Bella, a Shape Shifter?
by emslie
Summary: Bella is a Shape Shifter and has just moved to Forks to live with her dad. She meets Edward, a vampire, and immediately falls for him, a big no-no. What happens when her old pack members come to punish her for betraying them? Disclaimer: I don't own! I'm so sorry, but this story is up for adoption. I've fallen out of love with this phase in my life, but if you want it PM me!
1. Chapter 1 and 2

Chapter One

Uhg. The first day of school always sucks, and this is the sixth time I've had to move and in the past ten years. But I guess it's different this time since I'm moving to Forks, Washington to live with my dad, Chief of Police Charlie Swan. I'm Bella Swan by the way, the new girl at Forks High School home of the Fighting Bears (Jeesh, how much weirder can this little town be?) and secretly a Shape Shifter. I'm not normal, you don't have to tell me, but my parents are and it was hard for them to keep track of me since I change form at the full moon and stuff. So, I opted to move here for the last two years of high school.

As I drove through the little parking lot in my BMW and found my space I remembered the last time I moved to a new town. We had moved to Rochester, New York, and for a while I actually thought it might work living there. I made friends easily enough and no one had a clue that I wasn't human, so of course I figured it was perfect. As it turned out, not quite so perfect. People started mysteriously disappearing and their bodies were found torn to shreds or drained of blood, no one knew what had happened to them, most thought it was some sort of animal, but not me. I knew what had killed those people, it was a Vampire.

Since I'm a supernatural being myself, I know a little about what else is out there. There are others like me, who can change form, and Werewolves, who can only change into giant wolves, and then there are the Vamps. My parents were worried about me when I told them of the Vampire attacks and of course they were disbelieving, Rene and Phil McCormick aren't exactly open minded to others in the supernatural world in which I live. Sure, they believe in _me_, but that's only because they've seen me change, usually into a tabby cat, just so I can stay in the house. But Vamps were just too much of a horror film for them, sometimes I wonder if they wish I were normal or if they like me the way I am.

A knock on my car window brought me back to the here and now and out of my mental rant. It was a group of kids, they looked about my age. There were four boys and three girls. The girls were dressed surprisingly stylish for such a small town, one was a nice olive tone with straight black hair. She was the skinniest girl I think I have ever seen, she had on a cute purple Areopostale shirt and jeans, with a water proof jacket draped over her arms (along with being very small, Forks is also the wettest place in the continental U.S.) and wore a very genuinely sweet smile. The one next to her was a bit taller, but her smile definitely was not genuine, I could tell her friends had dragged her over here to say hi to me. She had bleached blond hair and wore jeans, and a blue blouse. The other was the prettiest of the little group with gorgeous brown, curly hair, she wore a deep pink shirt and cute holey jeans. The boys were boys, no other way to explain them, there was a tall skinny one with black hair, and a shorter skinny one with brown wavy hair, the third was a the same height as the second, but bigger, not fat, but more muscle, and the last was definitely the cutest he was tall with short blond hair that he wore a bit spiky.

After examining the group, I grabbed my purse and got out of my car. Simultaneously, they all said hi and away the pretty brunette went with telling me the names of her friends, she started with the girls. "This," she said pointing to the black haired girl, "is Angela, and Lauren," the blond. "And Eric," the black haired boy, "and Ben," the brown haired boy, "and Connor" the muscular one, "and Mike." The cute one. "And I," she said pointing to herself, "am Jessica. You must be Isabella Swan!"

"It's just Bella." I corrected her nicely.

The boy named Mike stepped up then, Jessica gave him a flirty smile, she definitely liked this boy. "We can show you to you classes and stuff if you like, you probably have most of your classes with us anyway." He said and smiled at me sweetly.

"Sure!" I said, silently thanking the Lord that I wouldn't have to wonder the halls like nincompoop. I unclasped my purse and withdrew my new class schedule. The crowd came closer to see what classes I had with them, it was already a few weeks into school, so they had their schedules memorized.

My first hour class was English III with Mrs. Simms. "OO! You have English with Ben and me!" Squealed Angela excitedly.

Second hour was German III with Mr. Gartner. "I don't think any of us have German, but I'll show you where it is, since it's right next to my second hour." Connor said, seeming quite happy about this, Lauren scowled at me from the back of the group. I had a feeling I wasn't going to be her favorite person in the world.

Third hour was Pre-Calculus, blec. "You and me have Pre-Cal together." Ben said with a wide smile, he was definitely a math geek, but I'm glad because I am _definitely_ not. "We all have lunch together after that, so I'll walk you there too."

Fourth hour was Biology. "You have bio with me! " Mike was ecstatic about this, Jessica seemed hurt. "And Jessica." he added hastily.

Fifth hour was Art! Oh, thank the heavens! I may not be good at it, but I'm comfortable in any art room, you give me a pen and paper an I'll be happy for a year. "None of us take art, but its right next to the choir room, so I'll show you where it is." Jessica said, beaming at me, I beamed back. " And then you have P.E. with me so we can walk together to the gym too!"

"The bell is about to ring students! Get to class!" The principal was standing just outside the door to the school, his face red, obviously having been yelling at some poor soul just seconds before. As Angela and Ben walked me to Mrs. Simms room she told me about Mr. Greenthorn, the principal, apparently he's a big bully.

I walked out of English relatively unscathed, I had already read the books on the summer reading list so I was golden there, but the teacher did ask me to stand in front of the class and tell them something about myself. I always get nervous when asked to do this, I mean what am I supposed to say "Hi, I'm Bella a Shape Shifter!"? Hell, no! So I stood up there and rambled on about moving here to live with my biological father. I'm pretty sure, if I hadn't been the new kid in a town that hadn't had anything new since movie theatres became popular that I would have bored the class to death.

Connor was already standing outside the class room when I walked out the door, Lauren was right behind him, she had put on the fake smile she had that morning in the parking lot. Obviously she was putting on a nice girl act for Connor, he seemed oblivious to it.

"Wow, you guys got here fast." I observed.

"We were just so excited to get to know you, Bella." Lauren was lying through her teeth about this. I have to lie a lot, just to keep my big secret, so I can pretty easily tell when people are lying to me, like Lauren was. I smiled at her anyway, trying to seem like I didn't know she was phony.

"Lets get going, I can see Mr. Greenthorn is coming." Tyler said, making a face of mock terror.

Tyler and Lauren dropped me of at Mr. Gartner's door, I walked in the room and found a seat in the middle, every one was staring at me, which mad me blush and very mad at the same time. Thankfully, Mr. Gartner walked in the door when the bell and said "Guten Tag, Klasse!"

"Guten Tag, Herr Gartner." was unenthusiastically mumbled back to our teacher by the class.

"Hmm, I see we have a new student with us." Mr. Gartner said, looking down at the role to find my name. "Isabella Swan?"

"That's me, but I go by Bella."

"Okay." He said, changing my name on the class roster. "Why don't you come up here and tell us a little about yourself?" Oh boy, not again.

"Um, alright." I said getting noisily out of my seat and making my way to the front of the class. "Hi, uh, my name is Bel…"

"Auf Deutsch, bitte!" Mr. Gartner called from his desk.

"Oh, uh, es tut mir Leid, Herr Gartner." I said unapologetically. "Hallo, ich heiße Bella Swan. Ich komme aus Rochester, New York. Uh, spielen Guitarre und Klavier gefällt mir. Um, das ist alle, Herr Gartner."

"Sehr gut! Sie können sich hinsetzen jetzt." Embarrassed about only being able to say what my name was, where I was from and the fact that I like to play the guitar and piano, I took my seat. When I was situated and he had assigned me a book, Mr. Gartner started his lecture about the importance of knowing your accusative and dative case prepositions, which I already did, so I sort of dozed off. The bell rang and brought me out of my little sleep, I walked unsteadily out of the room and there Eric was leaning against the wall with his books already in his hands.

"Ready for Pre-Cal? I love the class, I'm pretty good at, I bet you are too, you seem like a smart person. Are you? What's you GPA? Did you take any advance courses in Rochester, I bet you did." He never stopped questioning me as we walked to class, heck, he didn't even give me a chance to answer his questions. We walked into class and thankfully Mrs. Beckmen didn't make me get in front of the class, I hoped I wouldn't have to do that ever again. Mrs. Beckmen's teachers aid passed out a simplifying radicals/sine, cosine, and tangent worksheet, while she started the review from geometry that I had in the 9th grade; I worked on it while she spoke.

The bell rang as I was finishing the last problem, so Eric and his friend Calvin (a very cute senior boy with a shaggy hairdo) walked with me to lunch, they talked about remembering trigonometric ratios being easier freshmen year the whole way there. As we walked into the cafeteria Jessica ran over to me, grabbed my hand and dragged me into the lunch line next to her. She began talking rapidly to me about how the lunches here were really good, but they weren't allowed to go off campus anymore for lunch, I sort of stopped listening after that. The whole lunch room seemed to be gawking at me like I was the most interesting thing they had ever seen, it was horrible.

Today's lunch was pizza, I grabbed a salad and a water and made my way to the table where Angela, Ben, Mike, Eric, Connor, and Lauren were already seated. As I came closer to the table Mike and Eric made room for me to sit in between them, I was going to sit in the empty seat next to Angela, but didn't want to seem like a total jerk so I sat in between the two boys. Jessica came to the table right after I was seated and made herself a space between Mike and Connor. Everyone began talking about the people that were in our lunch with us; the jocks, the cheerleaders, the artsy kids, et cetera. And then I smelt the most amazing thing in my life. It was new, and yet, familiar; disgusting, and yet delicious. I began looking around to see what it was, but couldn't figure it out. I leaned over and took an inconspicuous sniff of Eric, then of Mike, it was neither of the boys. And that's when I noticed _them_. The Vampires.

Chapter 2

The five Vampires were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't gawking at me, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an excessively interested pair of eyes.

One of the three boys was big, muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair. Another was taller, leaner, but still muscular, and honey blond. The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bonze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students.

The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of the _Sports Illustrated _swimsuit issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back. The short girl was pixie like, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction.

Of course they were all very pale, chalklike. They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadow under those eyes, they must not have fed in a while. Why the hell are they here if they haven't fed in days, possibly weeks? Wait! Why the hell are they in high school anyway?! They're supposed to be nomadic unknown freaking creatures of the crypt! WTF?!

Although, I wasn't scared for myself, (I could take at least the little chick in a fight if needed) I _was_ scared for the humans in the room. But, despite my fright, I kept watching them. They were all strikingly beautiful, their noses, well, all of their features were straight, perfect, angular. But I couldn't decide which was more beautiful, the blond female or the bronze-haired boy.

They were all looking away; away from each other, away from the other students, away from anything in particular as far as I could tell. As I watched, the small girl rose with her tray - unopened soda, uneaten apple - and walked away with a quick, graceful strut that belonged on a run way. I watched until she glided out of the room, then my eyes darted back to the others, who sat unchanging.

"Um, Jessica, who are _they_?" I asked inclining my head towards the group.

As she looked around me to see who I meant - though she probably already knew from my tone of voice - suddenly he looked at her, the thinner one, the boyish one, the youngest I suppose. He looked at Jessica for maybe a fraction of a second, and then his dark eyes met mine.

He looked away quickly, more quickly than me, but in a flush of embarrassment I dropped my gaze. In that brief glance, his face held nothing of interest - it was as if she had called his name, and he'd looked up in an involuntary response, already having decided not to answer her.

Jessica giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table as I had.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She whispered to me.

"They are… very nice-looking." I struggled to find the right words to describe the looks of the five Vamps.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed quickly with more giggles. "They're all _together_ though - Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice. And they all _live_ together." Her voice sounded disgusted, even for Vampires, that was a bit weird.

"They're all adopted though, well, Jasper and Rosalie are twins, but Dr. Cullen adopted them." Angela added, defending the little group. Why she would want to, I don't know, but she did.

"That's really nice of them - to take care of all those kids when they're so young." I said, trying to make it seem like I didn't know something strange about the "adopted" family.

"I guess so," Jessica reluctantly admitted, I got the impression that she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason. With the glances she kept shooting the Cullen children, I guessed the reason was jealousy. "I don't think Mrs. Cullen can have kids of her own," she added, like it took away some of the niceness.

"When did - Have they always lived here?" I stopped myself before asking when they moved here, I'm not supposed to know their dirty little secret.

"No," she said in a voice that screamed 'Duh!'. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."

As I examined them again, the youngest looked up at me expectantly. I steadily held his gaze, which had an odd intensity, like he was waiting for me to say something. This was interesting behavior for Vamps, even ones as tame as these.

I looked away from him then and said to Jessica, "Which one is the boy with reddish brown hair?" I asked. I didn't need to look back at him to know he was still staring at me, I could feel his gaze.

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here good enough for him." She huffed, I wondered when he'd turned her down.

"Oh, I wouldn't waste my time on him." I said before realizing what I was doing. I looked back at him, just to get away from the weird look I was getting from my new friend. He was still looking at me, the slightest smirk on his face, like he had heard what Jessica had said, but his eyes had the same intensity with a tint of frustration. He looked down at his food then, with a frown. The four of them left the cafeteria relatively quickly after that, all of them very graceful as the small one had been.

I sat at the table with Jessica and the rest of her friends until Mike got up and said we should get going to Biology. Jessica chatted with Mike while I walked a few steps behind them on the way to the classroom. When we walked into the room, Mike went to sit a one of the black topped lab tables with his lab partner, and Jessica did the same, but at the table next to Mike's. Everyone seemed to have a lab partner except for _Edward Cullen. _Super, I was going to have to sit with a Vampire for the rest of the year! That is just great.

Unwillingly, I trudged over to the seat next to him. That's when I smelt it again, the new, but familiar; disgusting, but amazing smell. It was him, the Vampire, that smelt this way, that drew me in more than any other being in the world. No, it can't be, I'm not supposed to be attracted to the smell of these creatures, they're supposed to repel me. This shouldn't be happening! I sat next to him, and moved my hair over to my left shoulder, making a dark curtain between us, in an unsuccessful attempt at masking his scent. Mr. Banner, the biology teacher, started his lecture on cellular anatomy, something I had already studied. I tried to listen anyway, just to get the thoughts of _his_ scent out of my head. But I couldn't help but to tighten my fists into little balls, it was an involuntary response to the painful effect he had on my senses.

The class seemed to drag on longer than any other today. My fists never loosened at all through the long period. As soon as the bell rang, I jumped from the desk, grabbed my stuff and waited, impatiently in the hall for Jessica. She emerged a few seconds later, but it seemed like years, I was ready to get to art and get the mental image of the menacing creature that so greatly lured me in out of my head.

The whole way to the art room Jessica talked about Mike. I listened enough to be able to add the little "Hmm"s and "Oh, really"s that were appropriate. She left me at the door to Mrs. Harper's room and walked into the room next to it, waving the whole way. The art room was like any other; long, with tall windows, paint lining the walls and six large tables with about five chairs at each. I sat at one of the emptier desks, not looking at anyone in the class, I just wanted to be alone.

Once I was situated, I decided to take a peek at the other person at my table, it was the pixie like Vampire. Can I not get away from these things?! I instinctively stopped breathing, but when I did take a breath, she smelt like any other Vamp; metallic, like blood, and musk. There was nothing special about her smell, nothing drew me in, nothing made tinges of pain run through my body. Why had Edward effected me so?

I decided not to dwell on this, and took out my sketch pad I had stuffed in my backpack this morning and a pen. I was just doodling, not really meaning to draw anything in particular. It started with a dot and then somehow turned into an eye. I wasn't paying attention to what I was drawing, so when I finished the face around the eye I was startled. I had drawn Edward Cullen. What is wrong with me? Did I do this to myself somehow? Did he have some sort of power over me? Those and many other thoughts swam through my head at this moment, but the one that stuck out was; He is the most beautiful creature I have _ever _seen_. _Sickened by myself, I crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash can. I spent the rest of the class period in a kind of daze, not really seeing what was going on in the class, sort of like I was watching a very boring movie.

It seemed not long after that, the bell rang, I'm not for sure how long I sat there staring at nothing. I never said anything to girl named Alice I had sat with, I hardly even looked at her after I recognized who she was. I was much more preoccupied on her brother, I had met few creatures like them in my life, but the ones I had never had the effect on me he seemed to. I was so confused I barely noticed Jessica and another girl waiting outside the door when I stepped into the hall. Jessica introduced me to her, I vaguely remember her from my German class, her name was Allison, she was in P.E. with us.

They talked about the song they were singing in choir while we walked the short distance from the art room to the gym. When we walked in the first people I saw were two of the Vampires I had seen at lunch. They were the other boys, Emmett and Jasper, thankfully Edward was not with them. They sat on the far side of the gym on the bleachers away from everyone else, they weren't talking to each other, or looking at each other. You'd think that they would at least say something to the other Vamps, but no, they sat there unmoving, for the most part. Every once in a while one of the would fidget, I guessed trying to look human.

Jessica, Allison and I went to the locker room to change for whatever sport we would be playing today. When I came out I sat with Mike and a group of his friends sitting in the middle of the bleachers. Everyone started to introduce themselves to me, when Coach Clapp walked in and said we would be starting volleyball today. He went through the instructions and started numbering people off into teams. I was on a team with Mike, Jessica, and Allison, we were playing against Emmett, Jasper, and two girls I didn't know, they looked absolutely terrified of the two boys.

Emmett and Jasper seemed to be able to play human quite well. They never hit the ball too hard over the net, though every time I got the chance I spiked it at one of their heads. I needed to get my anger and frustration about them being here out someway. Jessica and Allison hung back, they weren't very good at volleyball, so it was just me and Mike playing against Emmett and Jasper, their partners were more or less too petrified of the ball and the vamps to play.

Coach Clapp blew his whistle signaling that the games were over and we should go change. Mike and I exchanged high fives about beating the other team and gave congratulations to Jessica and Allison. We walked into the locker rooms to change, Jessica and Allison talked about how cute Mike looked while playing, they asked me what I thought, I said I was too into the game to notice. Which was partly true.

Coach let us go ahead and leave since the bell was about to ring anyway. Mike had parked in the space next to me, so we walked to the parking lot together and chatted about the volleyball game. I hadn't noticed this morning, but most of the cars in the parking lot were at least ten years old or big trucks. Mike drove a GMC Jimmy, he seemed proud of it, until he noticed my 2006 BMW M5.

"Your's and Cullen's are the only new cars in the lot." He said without humor in his voice. What he said was true though, I looked around and saw a shiny silver 2008 Volvo V50 (I'm not a car nerd, Phil, my step dad, is though) sitting in the spot directly behind mine.

"Hmm. I guess so." I said, not knowing what else to say, Mike was definitely sullen about the car situation he was in.

I knew when Edward walked out of the school because the once fresh, clean, rainy smelling air was suddenly tainted with his scent, it was all my mind could focus on. I mumbled a brief goodbye to Mike, got in my car and turned the air on full blast to get the smell of _him_ off of me. I plugged my iPod into the stereo, the song I had been listening to that morning was "Fake Palindromes" by Andrew Bird. It just reminded me of him because it's about monsters, so I switched it over to Rammstein. For some reason, having German men yell at me was calming.

Even with the calming effect of the music, I couldn't get him out of my head (or my nose for that matter) and I realized something. I hated him! He and his weirdo family shouldn't be here, and they could screw this up for me, expose me to the humans. Being anywhere near him made me want to change into a large feline and maul him to death! Nothing had ever made me want to do that before, and I hated him for it.


	2. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I tried to pull out of my space as fast as I could, but I wasn't watching as much as I should, so I almost rammed into that Calvin guy I met this morning. I waved in an apologetic gesture to him in my rear view mirror and pulled out the rest of the way from my parking space. As soon as I got to the main road, I sped to Charlie's house. The house hasn't changed much in the years since I lived here with him and my mom. I parked in the small carport, where Charlie and I both park our cars.

Grabbing my laptop off of the kitchen table where it had been charging, I plugged it into the phone jack to check my e-mail. I had one from my mom, and a couple spam; nothing out of the ordinary for me. The one from my mom read:

Hey, honey. How was your first day of school? Do you like your classes? Did you make any friends, you always make friends so easily. Call me or e-mail me when you get this.

Love, Mom.

I love my erratic, hair-brained mother to death, but like any mother she likes to pry and I knew without a doubt if I called her she would ask if I had met anyone like me or talked to any cute boys today. Those are touchy subjects with me; mostly because I don't meet many people like me, and dating isn't an option. How could I date when I have such a big secret to keep? I can't, it's impossible and we always end up arguing if she asks about it, so I chose to e-mail her back.

Hey, mom. School was fine, they have a really small school here, and a really weird mascot, but other than that it was okay. My classes are good, I have art so that's good. People were very nice, I made some friends. How are you and Phil doing in Jacksonville, I bet the weather is nice there, it rains pretty much every day here. But I guess you remember. I have homework, so I have to go.

Love, Bella.

I wasn't in the mood to right a long e-mail. No matter how much I missed my mom, I couldn't tell her about the Vampires at my school. And that was pretty much the only thing on my mind right now. I lied when I said I had homework to do. I had done all my homework in school today. It was only 3 o'clock, and Charlie doesn't get home until about 6:30. Making dinner doesn't take long for me an I had already decided to make fish, which is only a thirty minute process. So, I had three hours to kill and I couldn't get that stupid freaking Vampires face and smell out of my head. Maybe I could fake a sickness tomorrow so I wouldn't have to go to school.

"No." I told myself out loud. "I have to face this problem head on. But I _so_ don't want to."

I decided to take a drive, it wasn't raining today, although it was supposed to tonight, so I choose to go to the La Push beach on the Quileute Indian Reservation. It was only about a fifteen minute drive to the beach, and I had a sufficient supply of Rammstein to listen to, so I was okay for the drive. The roads to La Push were pretty much barren, I didn't pass many people, only many many trees.

When I pulled off of the road and parked a little ways away from the path to the water front, where on down the beach there were people surfing. I went and sat in the wet sand on my Parka. For a while I just stared at the water, the waves crashes against the rocks and sprayed like glass shattering into millions of tiny crystals. I felt safe knowing that I was in La Push, which was home to the Quileute tribe of Werewolves. I hadn't met any of the actual Weres and I didn't plan on it. They are much more noticeable (because you show signs of werewolf-ism at puberty, the boys here are huge) than Shape Shifters or even Vamps and yet the humans are ignorant.

I hadn't noticed I wasn't alone until I saw a pair of feet next to me. I followed the legs up, up, and up until I saw a boy standing next to me, he looked about fifteen years old. He had a cute face - in a little kid kind of way - with long black curtains of hair framing it.

"You're Isabella Swan, right?" he asked.

"Bella." I said.

"I'm Jacob Black." He said, holding his hand out in a friendly gesture. "Billy Black's son"

"Oh, I should probably remember you. The name sounds familiar." I said, I remembered Billy, but I thought he had two daughters. I stood up and shook his hand.

"No, I'm the youngest - you would probably remember my sisters."

"Rachel and Rebecca," I recalled. "Yea, I remember, it was a long time ago." About ten years ago, actually, I would come out here when Charlie and Billy went fishing.

"Yea, that's right. Rachel got a scholarship to Washington State, and Rebecca married a Samoan surfer - she lives in Hawaii now."

"Married? Wow." The twins were only a year or two older than me.

"What are you doing out here? If you don't mind my asking."

"Oh, uh," How would I explain this? I'm running away from my thoughts about the totally gorgeous vampire that I want to eat. Oh, Lord. "I just wanted to see the beach, I haven't been here in a while." I lied.

"Yea, its nice this time of year."

I looked down at my watch then and was startled at what I saw. It was nearly 5:30. How long had I sat there?

"Crap," I breathed, "I gotta go. Charlie'll be home soon, I need to make dinner."

"Nice seeing you again." He said and grinned widely. Dang, he was a cutey when he smiled like that.

"It really was. Next time Charlie comes down to see Billy, I'll come too." I promised.

His grin stretched even farther, if that was possible. "That would be cool."

"Bye." I said as I retreated up the path towards my car.

How could I have forgotten that face? I must be crazy, that is the only explanation to the fact that I want to jump a vampire's bones and eat him at the same time. What a mess I have made out of this decision to move in with Charlie.

My drive home was less than calming. I ran out of Rammstein when I parked at the beach, so I spent most of the ride scrolling for something good to listen to. Even that didn't make me forget about him. His face was always in the back of my mind, his eyes had the same curious, expectant, intensity; which made him look even better.

When I finally got home it was about 5:45 and I rushed into the house to make diner. Thankfully, I had all the ingredients I need to sauté the fish. I wrapped I couple potatoes in foil, put them in the oven to bake, and got to work on dinner.

Cooking relaxes me, but not enough today. Again, his face was there, staring at me.

I had just put the food on plates when Charlie came home.

"Bells?" he called.

Who else would be making you dinner, Charlie? I thought to myself. I wasn't allowed to call him Charlie to his face.

"Hey, dad, welcome home."

"Thanks." He hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boot as I put the plates on the table. As far as I was aware, he'd never shot the gun on the job. But he kept it ready. When I lived here, or came to visit, he would always remove the bullets as soon as he walked in the door. I guess he considered me old enough now not to shoot my self by accident, or not depressed enough to shoot my self on purpose.

"Mmm." he said, sniffing around the kitchen. "Smells good, what is it?"

"Fish and potatoes, I already put your plate in the dinning room." I told him.

He lumbered into the dinning room, probably wondering if my cooking was edible. He and my mom weren't much of cooks, so I decided I would cook the meals during my stay here.

We ate in silence for a while, it wasn't uncomfortable, it was almost natural. Neither of us were bothered by the quiet. In some ways, we were well suited for living together.

"So, how did you like school? Have you made any friends?" he asked as he was taking seconds.

"Well," I started, "a group of kids showed me around today, they seemed very nice. Uh, I think their names were; Lauren, Tyler, Ben, Eric, Angela, Jessica and Mike."

"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid - nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. Makes a good living off it too, with all the back packers that come through here."

"Do you know the Cullen family?" I couldn't stop myself from asking the question.

"Dr. Cullen's family? Oh, sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."

"They… the kids… are a little _odd_." I said, trying to sound neutral about the fact.

Charlie surprised me by looking angry. "People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant man. We're lucky to have him here - lucky his wife wanted to live in a small town. Works hard, works well. Our hospital - and town for that matter - should be thanking him! And all of those kids are well behaved. Never had a problem them - not a one. I can't say that much for people who have lived here all their lives. And they stick together the way a family should - camping trips every weekend… Just because they're new comers, people have to talk."

It was the longest speech I had ever heard Charlie make. He must feel strongly about whatever people were saying.

I took a step back (conversation wise). "They all seem nice enough, I just noticed they kept to themselves, that's all."

We lapsed back into silence after that. Charlie cleared the table while I started the dishes. He went into the living room to watch TV, and I finished washing the dishes by hand - no dishwasher. I went upstairs after that, but had nothing to do.

I played solitaire for a bit, listened to music, checked my facebook, nothing had a calming effect, so I decided to reread _Wuthering Heights_. I fell asleep reading.

I dreamt of Edward that night. I was Kathy, roaming the mores calling "Heathcliff! Heathcliff!" He never came, but Edward did. He walked in looking beautiful, in clothes of the era - they suited him well. He walked slowly over to me, as if I would run away at any second. He took my hands in his and said, "Hello, my love." and bent down to kiss me lightly on the lips.

And then my alarm went off. _Crap! _I was just getting to the good part of my dream.


	3. Author's comments

The first thing I have to say is sorry. I say this because I know it will take me a while to write my next few chapters. I'm having crazy writers block at the moment.

The second thing I have to say is thank you. I'm so surprised that you guys like my story. It makes me so happy to know that people enjoy my writing.

And the third and final thing I must say is, if you have any criticisms about my stuff, _please _tell me. I'm not a seasoned writer, not in the least, and I could use all the help I can get.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I took a nice hot shower, though it probably would have been better to take a cold one. Why was I dreaming about him? Maybe since its so close to the full moon, I mean, it is this weekend. Just one more thing to worry about. But I'd never had weird dreams about Vampires right before the full moon. Then again, I'd never met one like Edward Cullen.

Getting ready was easy, I don't wear a lot of make up, and I really don't care what clothes I wear (I'm gonna have a coat on most of the day anyway). When I went downstairs Charlie was already gone. In most ways living with Charlie is like living on my own. I ate a small bowl of cereal, not really tasting what I was eating.

Randomly, a thought popped into my head, "In a matter of hours one person changed my world." I mulled that over for a bit, and realized it was so very true. I hadn't wanted this to happen, had he? Of course not. We were sworn enemies and we hadn't even said one word to each other yet.

Did he know what I was? Panic flooded my mind at that moment. Did he… could he know what I was? I knew what he was, but to him I probably (hopefully) looked like a plain old human.

It was only 6:45, but I made my way to school anyway, I had to get out of the house. I could sit in my car and read for bit, until people started pulling into the lot at least. But I couldn't just sit in the kitchen and think about the day to come, it worried me so much to know that I would have to talk to that beautiful creature.

I got in my car and made myself go to school. Not many people were there yet, the only cars I saw were the ones I suspected to belong to the teachers. I pulled into the space I had parked in the day before and cracked open _Wuthering Heights_ to the place I had fell asleep at. I began reading, but soon was in my own world, sort of. I was remembering my dream the night before. The way he had looked, smelled, felt, and spoke. He was so magnificent and terrifying.

At about seven, people started entering the lot. Mike and Eric parked in the spaces on either side of me, neither was happy about the other's choice of parking space. Apparently, I had two rival admirers. Jessica and Angela made their way over to the little group from where they had parked their cars across the lot.

But of course, when I stepped out of the car I was set in a trace by _his_ smell.

"Hello, Bella! Anyone in there?" Mike was waving his hands in front of my face to get my attention.

"Oh, yea, sorry. Guess I didn't get enough sleep last night." I said, though I wasn't looking at any of them. Edward was getting out of his car. His movements were so graceful and fluid, his body and face so beautiful and placid. In my eyes, he was an angel, but in my mind he was the devil, sent here only to ruin my life.

"I'm going to go ahead and go to class. Need to finish my English homework." I lied, thinking that was a solid enough excuse to get inside and away from his delicious fragrance.

English, German, and Pre-Cal passed in a flash. I was too anxious to pay attention. I suppose a better word is apprehensive though. I thought to myself. I was very eager to see him, to hear his musical voice. And I was also scarred of the thoughts I had this morning. _Did_ he know what I was? I had to find out someway.

But, I was a ball of nerves when I walked into the cafeteria. He and his family were sitting at the same table as yesterday, looking the same and acting the same. None of them looked at me when I entered. It appeared that they didn't know what I was, but that didn't take the edge off of my trepidation.

Lunch seemed to draw on and on. I refused to look at any of the Cullen's, although my body reflexively wanted to. It seemed, each time I turned to Mike, who was stationed to my right, my eyes would plead with my mind to take a peek at the family. But finally they left the cafeteria, and regretfully I watched their exit. And now it was time for us to leave and for Mike, Jessica and I to go to…

_Biology._

He was already seated and waiting at our table when I reluctantly emerged from the imaginary shield the doorway provided for me. I could already smell him in the hall, but his scent was stronger in the small, lab equipment filled room.

I took my seat next to him, and for a while tried not to acknowledge his existence. I was just trying to get a hold on my senses, which were going crazy.

"Hello," a quiet, musical voice said. The same melodic voice from my dream, it was Edward's.

"My name is Edward Cullen," he continued. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself yesterday. You must be Bella Swan." He seemed so warm and inviting, no wonder the humans in this town didn't know what they were.

I sat there for a second struggling to put a sentence together to greet him. But, how the hell do I talk to this seductively destructive creature sitting before me?

"Uh, hello Edward. It's, uh, nice to meet you." I stammered, sounding like a completely incompetent idiot. Why can't I just attempt to act normal, I know I'll never be, but can't I just act it? The answer of course, was a big fat no.

Thankfully, Mr. Banner started class at that moment, so I wouldn't have to finish out that embarrassing conversation. We were doing a lab today, the slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. We weren't supposed to use our books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right.

"Get started," he called over the class in his booming voice.

"Ladies first, partner?" Edward asked. I looked up to see him smiling a crooked smile so beautiful that I could only stare at him like a dim-witted air head.

"Or I could start, if you wish." His smile faded; he was clearly trying to measure my mental capability.

"No," I said, blushing wildly. "I'll go ahead."

I was showing off, just a tad bit. I'd already done his lab, and I knew what I was looking for. It should be easy. I snapped the first slide into place and adjusted the objective of the microscope to 40X. I studied the slide for a very brief second, shifters' eye site is very good.

My assessment was confident. "Prophase."

"Do you mind if I look?" he asked as I began to remove the slide. His hand caught mine, to stop me, as he asked. His hand, of course, was ice cold. And mine, no doubt, was over a hundred. Along with great eye site, shifters' body temperatures run a bit higher than normal humans. When our hands met, it was like a jolt of pure electricity. I gasped, and he didn't look unshaken himself. He removed his hand from mine almost instantly, and said nothing, but a mumbled apology.

However, he continued his reach for the microscope. He took an even shorter time to examine the slide.

"Prophase." he agreed as he wrote it down on our worksheet. His hand writing an old fashioned slanted script. He neatly switched the slides, and then glanced at the new one without an ounce of curiosity, or unknowing.

"Anaphase." he murmured, writing it down as he spoke.

I kept my voice indifferent. "May I?"

He smirked and pushed the microscope towards me.

I eagerly looked at the slide, hoping with all of my being that he was wrong, but of course he wasn't. I wondered briefly how many times he had done this lab.

"Slide three, _partner_?" I said, hiding my sarcasm. I held my hand out, palm up, waiting.

He handed it to me; it seemed he was being cautious not to touch my skin again. But he didn't look at me with disgust, so he must not know. Sitting next to him for the few minutes that I had been, had helped with the smell it seemed. It wasn't near as piercing and excruciating any longer.

I took the most fleeting look at the slide as was possible.

"Interphase." I spoke clearly, passing him the microscope before he could ask for it. He took a swift peek and then wrote it down.

Edward and I were finished before anyone else was close. I could see Jessica and her partner comparing two slides over and over. And Mike and his partner had their book open under the table.

Which left me nothing to do but strive not to look at Edward… unsuccessfully. When I did look at him, he was staring at me with the same inexplicable frustrated intensity. I stared back, wanting to ask "Do you know what I am?", but of course I couldn't say that. Because if he didn't, well I would just be spelling it out to him, and that's pretty much me willingly giving myself up to a murderer.

And then the air conditioning kicked on. It blew a new waft of his scent toward me and immediately I flinched and turned away from him, covering my nose.

"Are you okay?" he asked me attentively.

"Oh, yeah… super, _ow_." I whimpered. His scent stung my every nerve, it was almost unbearable. But, I could withstand it for the last thirty minutes of class. I clenched my already fisted hands to block out the pain. "Just a head ache."

Mr. Banner came by then, to see why we weren't working anymore. He looked over our shoulders at the completed lab worksheet. Then he stared more keenly, to check the answers.

"So, Edward, did you deem Isabella incapable of helping you on this lab?" he asked pointedly.

"Bella," Edward corrected automatically. "Actually, she identified three of the five."

Mr. Banner looked at me skeptically; as if he himself deemed me incapable.

"Have you done this lab before, Ms. Swan?"

"Yes, with whitefish blastula."

Mr. Banner nodded. "Were you in an advanced placement program in Rochester?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well," he said after a moment. "It's good you two are partners." He mumbled something to himself as he walked away. After he left, I began doodling on my notebook.

"It's supposed to snow later this week. Are you excited?" I had heard people talking merely about the prospect of snow tomorrow.

"Not really. Snow is just colder rain, there is enough of that here." I commented, not looking up.

"You don't like the cold." It wasn't was question.

"Or the wet."

"Forks must be a difficult place for you to live." he mused.

"You have no idea." I muttered darkly.

For some reason he was fascinated by my answer to his question.

"Why did you come here, then?" he was almost demanding me to answer, like it was his last dying wish to know why I had moved to this small town.

"My mother and step-father, I suppose." I said reluctantly. I didn't want to answer his question, but I was also, sort of, compelled to.

"You don't like your step-father?" he asked quizzically.

"Oh, no. It's not that. Phil's a great guy, he plays minor league baseball. So, he moves around and my mom wanted to go with him. I volunteered to come here."

"And they're also afraid of me." I blurted.

What? Why was I spilling my guts? I had never told anyone that I suspected my parents to be frightened of me. Never. Why was I telling this strange vampire?!

Bella, I said to myself, keep it cool, keep it calm, and keep it collected. And God dammit! Think before you speak!

"But now you're unhappy." he seemed happy with his inference.

"Would it really matter?"

"Well, yes."

"No it wouldn't, my mother is happy, Charlie is happy; that's what matters, not my happiness."

"That doesn't seem fair." He shrugged, but his eyes were still intense.

I laughed without humor. "Hasn't anyone ever told you? Life isn't fair."

"I do believe I _have_ heard that somewhere before." he agreed dryly.

"So that's all." I insisted, going back to my drawing.

His gaze became appraising. "You put on a good show," he spoke softly. "But I would bet that you're suffering more than you let anyone see."

I grimaced at him, fighting the urge to stick my tongue out.

"Am I wrong?"

I ignored him, which is what I should be doing.

"I didn't think so," he said smugly.

"Why does it matter to you anyway?" I said angrily. "You're a-" I stopped myself before saying he was a vampire. That surely would give away what I was. And again, I gave myself that little speech.

"What am I?"

"You're nothing, Edward. It was a rash statement. It meant nothing." I said sharply.

"Well, if it meant nothing, then finish the sentence."

"No." I said. "If it means nothing, then there surely is no point in finishing it."

"On the contrary, I would like to know what it was, so it has meaning."

"No,' I said exasperated with him. "Just because you want to know, doesn't mean it has any meaning what-so-ever. So you better just give up."

"Fine." he finally said. "You'll just tell me some other day."

"Don't count on it, buddy."

"_Buddy_?"

"Mhm. If we are going to be working together for the rest of the year, we need to be nice and friendly. Like this:" I held up my crossed middle and index finger. "We shan't be having _meaningless_ arguments."

"Of course not."

Mr. Banner called the class to order, and I turned in relief to listen. I didn't want to talk to him anymore. Twice in one conversation, I had almost revealed my most closely guarded secret. The worst part was, he'd seemed engrossed in our conversation.

His smell thickened and I had to lean away from him. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see he was still staring at me, I looked back at our teacher.

I appeared attentive as Mr. Banner illustrated with transparencies on the overhead projector what I had seen without difficulty through the microscope. But my endeavor was a failure, my thoughts wandered back to my dream, and the boy sitting next to me.

When the bell rang, I fled the room as fast as I could; well, as fast as I could and still look human. I pretty much ran to my locker just to get away from his smell.

His scent was hard to describe; it was almost like the smell of sunshine. You know the way it smells on a sunny day, when you walk outside and the sun beams down on your face and your nose is flooded with the smell of wild flowers, grass, and trees, and its so warm and filled with humidity that it's thick. That smell reminds me of when I was younger. When I didn't know I was two natured. When it was just me and my mom. When I had no worries and knew nothing of the vampires, except what I saw on TV. It's the smell of happiness to me. And it bothered me to no end that he smelt that way.

I sat at the same table as the day before in the art room.

"Hi, I'm Alice Cullen." the vampire said to me.

"Hello. I'm Bella Swan." I replied.

We were doing pencil sketches of wildlife in class, so I went to the cabinet that held the paper and took a sheet back to my table.

I didn't say anything else to this _Alice _girl for the rest of class, except mumbled complements about her bear that she was drawing. I myself was drawing wolves, I had a beautiful picture of a pack of wolves howling to a full moon to look off of.

Time seems to pass more quickly when I'm drawing, I had most of the wolves themselves drawn and just needed to do the background and the shading to be done with it.

When the bell rang, I put away my things and walked into the hall to meet Jessica and Allison. Jessica seemed a little ticked that I hadn't walked with her to fifth hour, but didn't say anything about it. She and Allison were talking animatedly about the forecast for tomorrow. They were ecstatic about the prospect of snow instead of the usual rain.

I went straight to change when we entered the gym. Jessica went to talk to Mike, of course. And Allison went to talk to the boys that were standing behind Mike. Jasper and Emmett were doing the same as yesterday, not looking, not talking, not moving, not doing anything.

I changed swiftly. I hate changing in front of other people, its creepy. Plus, the girls that were in the locker room were whining about how they hate gym because it messes up their makeup, two of those girls were the ones on Jasper and Emmett's team.

When I walked back into the gym, Jessica and Allison were going to change. I went and stood by Mike because I didn't know anyone else, not because I really like him. He's actually is kind of annoying, and he likes me, which makes him even more annoying.

"Hey! You really ran out of biology today." he said.

"I was ready to get to art." I said, not knowing what else to say.

"You're lucky you had Cullen for a partner on that lab. It was murder. They all looked exactly alike."

"I didn't have any trouble with it." I said, then recalled it because I didn't want to deflate all of his ego. "But, I've done the lab before."

"You and _Cullen _have a nice talk?" he said it like it was an impossible thing.

"I guess," I shrugged. "It was just a conversation, we talked about the weather and stuff, nothing important." He seemed to brighten up with that fact that I wasn't impressed with Edward.

We were in the same teams for volleyball, so we had it pretty easy again. And again, I spiked the ball as hard as I could when I had the chance. I like gym, and for the most part, the people in it. Gym is an easy A.

The rain was just a mist as I walked to the parking lot, but I was happier when I was in my dry car. I got the eater running and took off my jacket to dry my hair out on the way home.

I looked around me to make sure it was clear. That's when I noticed the still, white figure, leaning against a shiny Volvo three rows down. Edward was staring at me. I swiftly pulled out of my space. But luckily, today no one was behind me. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When I opened my eyes in the morning, something was odd. It was light outside, not just light, but sunny! I quickly jumped out of bed and ran to my window.

It was the gray-green light of a cloudy day in the forest, but clearer somehow. I realized there was no fog veiling my window. But once I saw what thickly covered the ground, I groaned.

A fine layer of snow coated the yard, dusted the top of my car, and whitened the road. But the worst part had to be that all the rain from yesterday had frozen solid. I'm not the most coordinated girl in the world and ice doesn't exactly help with that. It might be safer to stay in bed.

The house was empty when I descended the stairs, Charlie had already gone to work. Like usual, I found my self reveling in the aloneness rather than being lonely. I was still peaceful because I had slept soundly the night before, no dreams of creepy vampires to make me stir.

I sat by the window while I ate my breakfast to gaze out at the scenery of the back yard. I may hate it, but I have to say, with the ice covered trees and the snow layered lawn, the back yard looked like a snow castle. One you would see in a fairy tale or a really old European city. It was beautiful.

I ate my cereal quickly though. I had to admit to myself that I was eager to see Edward. I know, stupid, stupid me. I should be avoiding him entirely with the fact that he is a vampire and I'm attracted to his scent and I can't seem to keep my mouth shut.

It took every ounce of my concentration to make it down the icy brick driveway. When I got to the curb though, I stepped on it wrong and ate it pretty bad. My butt and back were covered in snow and wet from the ice. I knew I would have a bruise tomorrow and it hurt so bad that I thought I might have broken my tailbone.

Driving to school, I distracted myself from my fear of falling and my unwanted thoughts of Edward by thinking about my admirers. It often made me laugh at lunch when Mike and Eric competed over who was seated next to me, and it was only the third day of my being here.

This had never happened to me at any of the schools I had been to in the past years. Boys were indifferent towards me in Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and Louisville; the last three places we have lived in because of Phil's baseball career. Maybe it was because I was something new, you know a _novelty_. Not that I think of myself that way, not in the least. To me, I'm pretty normal; brown hair, brown eyes, alabaster skin.

Whatever the reason, Mike's _friendly _behavior and Eric's apparent rivalry with him were disconcerting. I wasn't sure if I didn't like being ignored better.

My little compact car had minimal tribulation with the ice which encrusted the roads. I drove slowly, not wanting to get too cocky and run off the road or something. I would never here the end of it from Charlie if I did. He would insist on driving me to school every morning in the police cruiser. Besides the fact that I love my little BMW, whom I named Sheila, I would die of the mortification that Charlie would cause me.

When I got to school, I walked around the back to get my backpack and my art project that I had thrown in the trunk. I was standing by the back of my car, struggling with carrying my backpack and my art project when I heard the strangest noise.

It was the sound of screeching tires, getting louder and louder. When I looked up, I saw Edwards standing by his car four rows down, he was staring at me in an awestruck sort of horror. I looked at the others around him, mirroring his expression. It was then that I realized what the sound was and why it was getting louder.

With the clear vision of a shifter, I saw the next few things happen at once. I saw Edward again, frozen in his place. But of greater importance, I saw the Tyler's dark blue van skidding, tires locked and squealing, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to crash into Sheila and I was the only thing in between the gargantuan van and my baby. I didn't even have time to feel frightened for myself.

Just when I was expecting to be crunched in between a van and a BMW I was hit, hard, but not the direction I was anticipating. My head cracked against the icy blacktop, and it hurt _way_ worse than my little tumble earlier this morning. I smelt him before I noticed it was Edward that had pushed me and was pinning me to the ground. I was lying next to the black car I had parked next to, but I didn't have a chance to examine the rest of my surroundings because the van was still coming towards us.

It had hit the on side of the bumper on my car, still spinning and sliding, and was about to collide with me _again_.

Edward made a low, agitated noise, like he was just a little peeved that he had to do this, but not angry. One of his long, white hands shot out protectively in front of me, the other still clutching me to him. His scent was overwhelming in the cold air, but I was too concentrated on the whole not dying thing to care at that precise moment. The van shuddered to a stop less than an inch from my face, when it hit Edward's undamaged hand, making a humongous dent

Then his hands moved even faster. One suddenly gripped under the body of Tyler's van, make indentions where he held it. While the other; the one that used to be around my waist; grabbed my legs and began swinging me around like a rag doll till they hit the tire of the black car. When he let go of my waist, in his haste, he let my head bounce against the pavement _again_. I was really getting beat up today.

A earsplitting metallic thud made me turn my head to watch as the van settled, glass popping, onto the asphalt; exactly where my legs had been less than two seconds ago.

It was absolutely quiet for about a second before many people started screaming, some shouting my name, others calling 911. But more clearly I could hear Edward's low frantic voice in my ear. His hands were back to my waist, holding my off the ground.

"Bella? Are you all right?"

"Uh-huh." I mumbled and tried to nod. It was all could do, with the proximity of our bodies, his scent, and the throbbing pain radiating from my skull. Through the pain, I tried to sit up (I desperately needed to breathe, or risk fainting).

"Be careful." he warned, although he didn't let go of my hips. "I think you hit your head a few times pretty hard."

"Oh, really?"

He chuckled slightly. "I'm surprised that you can still be this sarcastic when you've just had a near death experience."

"I've had worse. You'd be surprised at how grumpy wolves can be." _BELLA! _Really, again with the not thinking before you speak! I, of course, was speaking of werewolves on the full moon when they are hunting. I used to hang with the pack in Rochester on the full moon sometimes.

"Wha-" To my great relief, he didn't get to finish whatever he was going to say because the paramedics were nearing, yelling instructions as each other, and the crowd. Most of the school seemed to be in the parking lot, tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other and us.

"Don't move," one of them commanded.

"Get Tyler out of the van!" someone yelled.

There was a outbreak of activity around us. I tried to get up once or twice, but Edward wouldn't budge, he kept me locked to him.

"Just stay put for now."

"But-" I let that sentence trail off. I was going to say 'But you smell.' then decided that that plus what I said earlier and what I said yesterday probably wouldn't be good.

"Why did you come over here?" I changed the direction of the conversation, to put the suspicion on him.

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"Why did you save me from being squished?"

"Bella, I was standing right next to you, I would have crushed also."

"No, no you wouldn't have. I saw you standing by your Volvo, your family is still over there." I could see his stone faced siblings still standing where they had been earlier, they weren't happy with what Edward had done. I thought I was making a good distraction from my being mouthy with this string of though I was following.

"Bella, I was standing right next to you the whole time. I pulled you out of the way." he tried to dazzle me with his eyes, what he didn't know was that I was immune to that; thank God.

"No." I set my jaw. He wasn't going to squeeze by these questions. I still don't know why, but for some reason, I wanted him to tell me the truth about him. I yearned for it. I felt that if he told me, he might be less angry when, or if, I told him mine.

I looked into his eyes and saw that he still hadn't fed recently, but they tried to blaze me over. "Please, Bella."

"_Why?_"

"Trust me," he pleaded, his soft voice almost needy.

"No, you trust _me_." I said flatly. That caught him off guard. He hadn't considered telling me at all, evidently I didn't bother him as much as he did me.

He didn't say anything else as the EMTs struggled to shift the van far enough from us to bring the stretchers in. He seemed very thoughtful, like he was really pondering what I had said; like he _wanted _to trust me.

Edward fervently refused his stretcher; I tried to do the same, but they saw the way I swayed as I stood and had trouble standing. Also, Edward told them of my falls and said I probably had a concussion, what a traitor.

The whole school was standing there as they loaded me into the ambulance. Edward rode in front, he appeared to know the EMTs. Before they could get me safely away from the humiliation, Charlie showed up.

"Bella!" he yelled feverishly, as he recognized me lying on the stretchers.

"I'm fine, Char- Dad," I said, remembering I wasn't allowed to call him Charlie to his face. Mom said I should call him dad because that's what I had called him when I was younger. "There's nothing wrong with me at all. This is just precautionary."

He turned to the closest EMT for a second opinion.

I tuned him out, I had my own troubles to worry about. What would people think when they saw the clear indention in the shape of Edward's hand on Tyler's van? And the one on the black car where Edward's shoulders had been? I aimlessly hoped that his family wouldn't be too mad at him for saving me. And even more severely I hoped they wouldn't get too suspicious of me and move. It would kill me never to get to see him again. When we got to the hospital, they took me to the emergency room. I was placed on a bed separated by pastel-patterned curtains. A nurse came by to put a pressure cuff on my arm and a thermometer under my tongue. As soon as she left, I quickly unfastened the neck brace they had put on me, deciding the since they hadn't closed the curtains I wasn't in too bad of shape.

There was another jumble of activity when they brought Tyler in and placed him on the bed next to mine. He looked horrible, they bandages they had put on him at the school were already soiled with blood and getting worse. But he was staring at me anxiously like I was on my death bed or something.

"Bella! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, Tyler. I'm fine, but you look terrible. Are you okay?" As we talked, nurse began replacing his bloodstained bandages, revealing a multitude of shallow cuts covering the left side of his face.

He acted as if he hadn't heard me. Maybe he hadn't though because he just kept going on with his vehement atonement of the accident. "I thought I was going to kill you! I was going way too fast and I must have hit the ice wrong because I just started spinn-" he couldn't finish the sentence, a nurse was dabbing at the lacerations on his face.

"Don't worry about, I'm okay. Edward was there and he pulled me out of the way."

"Who?" he looked confused.

"Edward Cullen. Didn't you see him?" Had no one seen him? He was on the ground right next to me when they pulled the van away. He was practically holding me.

"Cullen? I didn't see him… it was all going so fast. Is he okay?"

"Yea, he's fine." I said nonchalantly.

I guess I had made a mistake telling Tyler about Edward being there, that didn't exactly help with the whole keeping him on the down-low.

They wheeled me away then, to get an X-ray of my head. I pleaded with them to let me walk, I wasn't hurt at all, I had told them. But they just waved me off.

They took the X-ray and found out I was right, there was nothing wrong with me. Not even a concussion, go me! More like go Edward. But, hey, who cares?

They took me back to my little bed, even though I was perfectly able to leave. I had to talk to a doctor or something. So, I was stuck there, having to listen to Tyler's constant apologies. I tried to play the 'My head hurts.' thing, but they didn't phase him. Exasperated, I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. That didn't last long though, because, like usual, I smelt him before I saw him and my eyes flew open.

He was standing at the foot of my bed, smirking. "I suppose you aren't asleep."

Before I could answer Tyler started apologizing to Edward too. "Hey, Edward, I'm really sorry-"

Edward lifted a hand to stop him.

"No blood, no foul," he said, presenting his fabulously white smile. He went and sat on the edge of Tyler's bed, facing me, still smirking.

"So, what's the verdict?" He sounded so young, it was almost surprising.

"Nothings wrong with me, not a thing. But they won't let me leave."

"Don't worry, I came to spring you." Again with the cute euphemisms.

Then, a doctor came walking down the isle. He was young, maybe 23, blond, beautiful, and… pale. He was a vampire, Dr. Cullen.

"So, Miss Swan, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine. My head hurts a little, but nothing a Tylenol can't fix." I smiled at him a toothy smile.

He walked over to the board on the wall that lit up so you could see X-rays. After finishing looking at mine, he turned to me and said, "You're X-rays look good. But I'd still like to take a look at your head myself."

He strode over to me, his cold fingers.

"Good." he mused. "You'll probably have a bump, but like you said nothing a Tylenol can't fix."

"Like I said," I turned to Edward and glared, to add more emphasis. "I'm fine, and nothing is wrong."

"Well, your father is in the waiting room," he told me, "you can go home now. But come back if you feel overly dizzy or have trouble with your eyes site."

"I can't go back to school?" That would be the worst, what was is supposed to do at home?

"You need to take it easy."

"_He_ gets to go back to school, doesn't he?" I said throwing a menacing glance at Edward.

"Someone has to spread the news of your survival." he laughed.

"Actually," Dr. Cullen said, "it seems most of the school is in the waiting room."

"_Uhg!_" I moaned, covering my face with my hands.

Dr. Cullen raised his eyebrows. "Would you like to stay?"

"No, no, no!" I insisted, hoping of the bed, ready to sprint out the door. But, it seemed the slight head injury had messed with my already unstable balance and I bounced right into Edward. I was overcome with his smell as he caught and steadied me. I turned instantly, with a most likely pain stricken face. Dr. Cullen look concerned by the little incident.

"I'm fine." I assured him. I couldn't even think of a good excuse. "It doesn't hurt that bad."

"It sounds like you were extremely lucky." he cogitated.

"Mhmm." I said and turned to stare fixedly at Edward.

He didn't say anything else to me, signed my chart and took a look at Tyler. "I'm afraid _you'll_ have to stay with us just a bit longer," he said.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Edward said to me.

"My father's waiting for me."

"It won't take long." he didn't wait for an answer, but swiftly grabbed my hand and began towing me to an empty corridor.

He turned to face me once he decide that we were in an uninhabited area.

"What are you?" Uh oh. How was I going to get around _this_?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Um, a junior?" Playing dumb was always a good way to go.

He unleashed the full power of his dark eyes, they were beautiful. If I wasn't a shifter I would have fallen flat on my face, smothered with drool.

"Bella, I am not joking." I knew he was mad, he dropped the human façade along with the contractions.

"Neither am I." I said defensively.

"Then tell me."

"I already did! I'm a junior, I'm seventeen. It's on my birth certificate. I'm sure I can scrounge one up for you if you don't believe me."

He muttered something angrily under his breath that sounded a lot like 'Maybe I shouldn't have…'. I couldn't decipher the rest, so I jumped to the conclusion that he meant saving me.

"Then why did you?" I yelled. "Why did you save me? How could you have known that I didn't _want_ to be crushed by that van? Maybe I'm a suicidal maniac! But you never asked me!"

"I am asking you now." he said flatly.

"You must have hit your head too, because there is nothing different about me." I was getting a little dizzy being in that little hallway, with no one else's scent around me except Edwards. I really just wanted to get out of there.

"That is not true."

"Oh really? Are you God? Do you know _everything_ about _everyone_?" I didn't wait for an answer. "I didn't think so." I began to turn and walk away, but he grabbed my arm and spun me back around to face him.

"I must know." His eyes burned into mine, it was unbearable.

"Then you must _love_ disappointment, because whatever you've concocted in your head is all on the Sci-Fi channel." I yanked my arm out of his grasp and walked away fuming.

The waiting room was filled with people; it seemed that all of Forks was in that small cramped space. Charlie charged through the crowd at first sight of me. He immediately put both hands on my cheeks and began checking me for injuries. Had I not just been in the ER?

"I'm fine." I told him grumpily, still furious from my previous conversation and not ready for another one.

"What did the doctor say?"

"Dr. Cullen said I was fine and should go home." Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mike, Jessica, Angela, and Eric quickly approaching. "Let's go."

Charlie put his hand on my shoulder and steered me to the cruiser. It was the only time in my memory that I was actually glad to see that old thing.

We were silent for most of the ride home. But then I remembered where I had been standing when Tyler Crowley had come crashing around the corner. I had been standing behind my _baby_!

"What happened to Sheila?" I asked, feverishly hoping she was okay.

"Who?" Charlie asked confused.

"My _car_!"

"Oh. I had it-"

"Her." I corrected him.

"I had _her_ taken to the repair shop." he explained.

"_And_?" I persisted.

"And they said there was very little damage and they could have it done by tomorrow."

"Thank God."

"Crowley is paying for the repairs, of course."

"There's really no need for that, I have the money."

"The kid almost killed you and you want to pay to fix your car?"

"He said he was sorry, _many, many _times."

"Either way, he is paying." he said it like the fat lady had sung over an hour ago.

"Fine." There was no point in arguing.

That was the end of the conversation until we got to the house and Charlie sprang something on me I couldn't fathom.

"I, uh… called your, uh… mother." he stammered, hanging his head guiltily. He knew, just as I did, that mom would have driven herself crazy with worry in the two plus hours since he called her.

"I can't believe you told her!" I said, slamming the door a bit harder than necessary when I got out of the cruiser. I ran inside the house as fast as I could to make that call to my mother.

Mom had passed crazy and was on her way to full on hysteria when I talked to her. I had to explain about fifty times that the doctor himself said I was fine and there was nothing wrong with me. She begged and begged me to come home, forgetting that home right now was empty.

Her pleas were surprisingly easy to resist, besides the obvious of having nowhere to go to. I wanted, no, _needed_, to see Edward again. I know, it sounds insane! He is on the way to knowing what I am and I want to see him. But it was like he was a drug to me or something. I had to see him, talk to him, and smell him again. I couldn't even control myself around, my mind reflexively didn't want to lie to him, didn't want to tell him no.

I told mom the usual goodbye and hung up. Charlie called to me saying he had to go back to work and to call if I needed anything. When he left I went downstairs looking for something to do.

I scoured the fridge for something to eat, found nothing. Tried to find something to watch on T.V., was unsuccessful. I thought about going outside, then decided it reminded me of Edward. Finally, I landed on something to do. Take a nap.

_Edward and I were lying in a beautiful meadow in spring or summer. The sun was shining down on us through the tops of the trees, making him sparkle. I was at peace there, laying with my head on his cool bare chest. He was humming a tune that I didn't recognize, but that didn't bother me any. It was then that the wolves descended, literally. _

_There were maybe thirty wolves, all running at top speed toward us. Edward and I immediately stood, he put his arms in front of me in a protective stance. I began to protest his defense because I knew some of the wolves; they were in the pack in Rochester._

_These were _real _Weres, not inbred Shape Shifters that can only change into one animal, like the La Push pack. These Weres _had_ to shift at the full moon, like pure Shifters (me). Pure Shifters can change into anything their hearts desire, not just one species. _

"_Why are you here?" I said, moving in front of Edward to find the pack master._

_I finally spotted the grey wolf that I was looking for when he emerged from the impromptu circle. Flanked by his second and third in command, the three began to shift back to human form. I knew they were shifting because I could see the thick veil of smoke around them and smelt the stench of magic. You would know it if you smelt it, and _never _forget it. It is the most horrible smell._

_Recognizing the second, I said, "Alcide, what are _you_ doing here?" Alcide Herveaux was my ex-boyfriend, I was surprised to see him in such powerful position._

"_That's not important." he said, his eyes were cold, he hated me._

"_No. What _is_ important though, is why _I'm_ here." Mr. Ford, the pack master, said to me. "I am here to bring you home so we can deal with your betrayal in private." I was so baffled by this, that I couldn't even think straight. _

"_What? What do you mean? What betrayal?" I stumbled over the many questions in a flourish._

"_You are now in league with the Vampires. You did so without consulting the pack in which you are a friend of." Being a friend of the pack was a very prestigious thing, and with this pack it was a matter of life or death. _

"_I didn't change leagues! I moved away! I didn't think I would see any of you again. Ever." I tried to explain as well as I could. The circle of wolves around us was getting tighter as they moved closer to Edward and I. They were all staring directly at him with their teeth bared._

"_You are still a friend of the pack, and here you are with _that_." he said sternly, pointing viciously at Edward._

"_A _friend_? Is that what you think I am?" I was definitely peeved that he had come here. "You only made me a friend of the pack because you thought it would be useful sometimes to have a lion or a tiger with you in a fight. I'm not stupid, I knew that's why it happened in the first place. And it's not like any of you _really_ liked me, you just liked the security a large feline gave you." _

_It was true, if there was ever a fight with another pack, they had me there to scare the others off and help them win. _

"_You have misconstrued our agreement." he said after a little while, trying to find the right words. He was surprised I had figured it out that they only made me a friend because of this. As a rule, Weres don't like Shifters, pure or not._

"_Oh, really? Is that so? Because if I remember correctly, none of you saw me off when I left and I haven't had any phone calls from any of you since then!" I stared pointedly at Alcide when I said the last part. Two weeks before I had left he said he loved me, apparently it was all for show._

_None of them said anything, they just stood there looking quite ridiculous because they were stark naked. I looked around at the other wolves and saw that my friend Amelia looked ashamed. She was laying on the ground with her nose between her big paws. _

"_Now, if you'll excuse us, Edward and I have somewhere to be." I said as I grabbed Edward's arm and began towing him to the edge of the cirlcle. But before we got away, they lunged. All the wolves were attacking, I didn't know which direction was up and what was worse was that I didn't know where Edward was._

I awoke in a flurry, breathing heavily with sweat pouring down my face.Was this just an elaborate dream or was I clairvoyant or something? I wasn't that creative, but I hadn't ever had visions of the future either. What the crap?


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**It seemed like I'd only been asleep for a for a few minutes, but when I looked at the clock it said it was six o'clock. I had been asleep for almost seven hours having that crazy dream.**

**What intrigued me most about the dream wasn't the fact that the Weres were there attacking me, it was that I was **_**with**_** Edward. The way I had said 'Edward and I' so many times was disconcerting. If it was somehow the future, did Edward know what I was? Were we together? And when does it happen? I asked myself. **

**I pushed that away and decided I'd think about it tomorrow. I'd planned to ask Charlie at dinner if I could stay home tomorrow anyway. No matter how much I wanted to see Edward, I had to let him cool down before I talked to him again, if I talked to him again.**

**Charlie was already downstairs, paying the pizza man when I went down there. **

"**You were asleep when I came home, I didn't want to wake you." he said as we sat down to eat.**

**We lapsed into silence after that. Which was good, because it left me time to think about how I was going to ask him if I could stay home.**

"**Daddy," I said in I little kid voice, with a puppy dog face. "Can I stay home tomorrow."**

**He stared at me for a second deliberating.**

"**Please." I said with an even bigger puppy dog face, it was a little rusty, I hadn't pulled that one out of the bag in **_**years**_**.**

"**The doctor did say to take it easy." he mused. "Okay, but you're going on Friday."**

"**Thank you, daddy!" I said as I got up to throw away my paper plate.**

**I went to bed early, not well rested at all from my little nap. That night's sleep didn't help either. I had the same exact dream, but in better clarity and I was in the meadow longer with Edward. We were together, very recently though, which made me smile and frown at the same time. It was very confusing. He was almost testing me, he knew I was attracted to his scent and he was seeing how long I could withstand it around him. **

**I woke up at noon the next day, despite the fact that I had gone to bed a nine. It was sunny again, sunny enough that I could have gone to school and not have to worry about Edward being there. I wondered where he went when it was sunny. He, of course couldn't stay in town. Maybe he went to that meadow in my dream, banking on the fact that that dream was real, therefore the meadow would be too.**

**I stayed in bed most of the day, thinking those thoughts over and over again. There wasn't anything else to do, I did take a shower and clean my room a bit. I still had boxes of books to unpack. It was too cold and wet to go outside.**

**I made steak and potatoes for dinner. Charlie came home at about six and then just had to watch the sports net work after we ate. Again, I went to bed early. And again, I had the same dream. What bothered me was that I didn't get to find out what happened after they attacked. The dream ended at the same part each time I had it.**

**The clouds were back the next morning when I awoke, I had looked on the weather channel the day before to make sure it wasn't going to rain too much that night. I hate it when it rains on the full moon. Like most cats, I can't stand water, it's not an old wives tale at all. Water makes me all cold, and in Forks, during winter I do **_**not**_** want to be wet.**

**School went by as usual, even lunch was the same. Edward didn't look at or say anything to me. I stared at him sometimes, which made Mike and Eric so mad you wouldn't believe it.**

**I was so worried on the way to biology I hardly notice that people were trying to talk to me. Pretty much the entire school came up to me that day asking why I was out the day before and if I was okay. And each time I replied, I'm fine, I was just tired and sore yesterday. Was I ever not going to be the center of attention at this school?**

**I took my seat by Edward, and leaned as far away from him as possible. I clenched my fists and tried to breath as little as possible. He never said anything to me and I, of course wasn't going to be the first to crack the silent treatment so I kept quiet too. **

**The rest of the day went by just as the first. People coming up to me hoping I was okay. 'Yes, I'm fine' I would reply.**

**We were starting something new in gym, but I couldn't tell you what it was. I was day dreaming about my dreams. **

**I was excited when the final bell rang though, I couldn't wait to get home and get ready for the full moon. I had a little routine that I did every month, although I was going to have to change it up this time. **

**I called Charlie when I got home and said I was studying at Angela's for an English test on Monday. One of the girls from that class would be picking me up to go over there. That would explain well enough why I was not home and wouldn't be home. I told him not to wait up and hoped that he wouldn't.**

**When it was almost six o'clock and time for the sunset, I stripped down. Sometimes shifting can be messy and there is no point in ripping perfectly good clothes. I cracked my window and closed my curtains. I was ready for it to happen. When the sun started to set I immediately began to shift, I smelt the magic and saw the smoke and then I was a kitten. **

**I was well rested when I woke the next morning, I only hunted for about an hour the night before because it was so cold. So I slept on the foot of my bed quite soundly. Charlie didn't suspect a thing, he really believed I was studying. My weekend was very boring, I did nothing but unpack my boxes of books and CDs.**

**The next month was exactly the same. Edward wouldn't speak to me and I didn't speak to him. It was the most boring month of my life. The only thing that was different was that Tyler Crowley was back on Monday and followed me around constantly, obsessed with apologizing to me. I tried to convince him as much as I could that it was okay. He just wouldn't listen. He followed me around between classes and tried his hardest to snag a seat next to me at lunch. These things made Mike and Eric like him even less, it seemed I had gained another unwelcome fan.**

**No one was concerned about Edward's wellbeing, they all just clustered around me, never giving him a second glance. I didn't talk about him being there when the accident had happened, I didn't want to make him even more mad.**

**When I sat next to him in class, as far away from him as possible, he seemed totally unaware that I was there. I figured my conclusion about him wishing he hadn't pulled me out of the way was true, and it made me terribly sad.**

**When it was almost the full moon again, I decided I had to talk to him. But I couldn't make myself do it. I waited until after the full moon. That Monday, during fourth hour I took my seat and made myself turn to him. He showed no signs of noticing me.**

"**Hello, Edward," I said as pleasantly as I could. The heater was running and blowing his scent around the room. He barely turned his head, nodded and then turned back the other way. Well, if that's the way you want to be then fine. I mentally told him. See how he likes it getting the silent treatment for another month. Oh, who am I kidding? He probably wouldn't even notice.**

**I was down right bummed, Edward wasn't talking to me, the weather was still cold and rainy, although it never snowed again, and the dreams continued. Something in my e-mails alerted my mother that I wasn't exactly happy. In many of her e-mails she asked if I was depressed. Each time I said it was just the weather. **

**Though Mike was happy about the obvious stand-off-ness between my lab partner and I. It seemed, at first, that he was very worried that I was attracted to Edward. Pshaw, me? Like Edward? **_**Never**_**. He became more and more confident and on most days sat on the edge of my lab table to talk to me.**

**Jessica was the one that was the one who had warned me about the girls' choice dance coming up the weekend after next. She called me to ask if I cared if she invited Mike. Of course, I told her no. I had no feelings for Mike except friendly ones, and those were few and far between. **

"**Are you sure you weren't going to ask him?" she kept asking me.**

"**No, Jess, I'm not even going." I told her. **

**She didn't even try to convince me to go, she wanted Mike all to herself.**

**The next day she wasn't at school though, so I didn't know how it had gone. She was on some sort of field trip, I was planning on calling her when I got home. If Mike turned her down, I was going to beat him to a pulp.**

"**So," Mike said, as he sat awkwardly on the side of my lab table. "Jessica asked me to the dance."**

"**That's great, you two will have a lot of fun." I said, faking enthusiasm, it just wasn't in me anymore.**

**He saddened when I said that. "Well," he began, "I was kind of hoping you were going to ask me so I told her I'd think about it."**

"**Mike," I said, a little embarrassed, "you should tell Jessica yes. She really likes you."**

"**You already asked someone else?" I caught him take a peek at Edward when he said this.**

"**No, I'm not going at all." I told him.**

"**Why not?" he demanded.**

**I quickly made up an excuse, I hadn't been planning on someone asking me to the girls' choice dance. "I'm going to Seattle that Saturday." **

"**Can't you go some other weekend?"**

"**No, sorry. So, you shouldn't make Jess wait any longer."**

"**Yea, okay." he mumbled as he walked back to his own desk.**

**When I turned back around, Edward was staring at me. His usual stare that I hadn't seen in over two month.**

**I stared at him, very confused. I had expected him to look away once he caught my eye, but he just kept looking. I couldn't look away, after so many weeks of his absence in my life, how could I not stare back?**

"**Mr. Cullen?" the teacher called, looking for an answer to a question I hadn't heard. **

"**The Krebs Cycle," Edward responded, reluctantly turning to the front of the class to do so.**

**When he dropped my gaze, I was free. I could look around the room again, I wasn't held captive by his stare anymore. What I was held captive by was worse though.**

**He scent no longer hurt, it was more pleasurable than that. It made me happy, it still made my senses go wild, but I was okay with it. **

**For the rest of the period, I tried to be attentive to whatever Mr. Banner was yammering on about. It was a failure, no matter how much I wanted to be unaware of Edward's presence I couldn't.**

"**Bella?" he said, as I gathered my things to go to the next class.**

"**Are you speaking to me again?" I asked, it didn't help that my voice held a certain note of petulance.**

**His lips twitched in an involuntary smile. "No, not really." he admitted.**

**I closed my eyes and inhaled through my mouth. I was too ticked off to even smell him at that moment.**

"**Then what do you want?"**

"**I'm sorry." He said sincerely. My eyes popped open, I hadn't expected him to say that. "I know I'm being rude, but it's probably better this way."**

"**I'm not following."**

"**It's better if we're not friends. Trust me." he said, I rolled my eyes.**

"**I've told you before. You have to trust me too." I told him. "You know, you shouldn't have even bothered, it would have saved you so much trouble."**

"**Now I'm not following." he said. He was caught a little off guard by what I had said, but he hid it well.**

"**You should have just saved yourself the trouble and **_**not**_** saved me."**

**He didn't speak for a while after that, but when he did speak, he sounded mad. "You think I regret saving your life?"**

"**I **_**know**_** you do," I snapped.**

"**You know nothing."**

"**Right, of course. **_**Nothing at all**_**." I knew more than he did and he was the arrogant one.**

**I walked furiously out of the room, ready to be away from that stupid, supercilious, egg-head. He made me so mad that I couldn't even put it into words.**

**I didn't talk to anyone or even look at anyone during art. I was still fuming. He didn't get to make the decision of whether we talked or not. Even if he didn't want to be my friend, he should be courteous enough to say hello back. Obviously, I was hung up on this guy and that was why I had been having those dreams. They could not be the future, I couldn't love that **_**egotistical, conceited, butt-head**_**. It wasn't possible.**

**Gym was boring. We were playing basketball, the game you play every year and it never gets anymore interesting. I'm pretty good, but today my mind was surrounded by Edward. I kept falling over myself and nothing could help me. My team quickly figured this out and stopped passing me the ball. **

**It was a relief to leave. I almost ran to my car, which now had a new bumper and paint job. Tyler's van wasn't as lucky as mine. His family had to sell it for parts, he now drove an old Sentra. All the happiness was deflated from me when I saw Eric leaning against the passenger side of my car, waiting for me.**

"**Hey, Eric," I called.**

"**Hi, Bella."**

**I had too many distractions (i.e. Edward) to notice the uncomfortable note his tone had taken on. Because of this I was surprised by what he said next.**

"**Uh, I was just wondering… if you would go with me to the spring dance?" Another invite to a dance that was girls' choice?**

"**Thanks for asking me and everything, but I'm not going to be in town."**

"**Oh, maybe next time." **

"**Sure," I agreed, then bit my tongue. I hoped I hadn't sounded too promising.**

**As Eric slouched off to his car, I heard a small chuckle behind me.**

**Edward was walking passed me, not looking at me, but he had his lips tightly pressed together. I yanked my car door open and slammed it behind me. I had to wait in line to get out of the parking lot, but just as I got to Edward, he pulled out in front of me. He sat there, waiting for his family; they were on there way over, but still by the cafeteria. I considered ramming the back of his shiny silver Volvo, but decided Sheila had been through enough.**

**As I sat there, staring at everything but what was in front of me, someone knocked on my window. Tyler was standing there, wanting to talk to me. He had left his car, which was behind me, still running with the door wide open. I rolled the window down to see what he wanted.**

"**I'm sorry, Tyler, I'm stuck behind Cullen." I was seriously piqued - the hold up wasn't my fault.**

"**Oh, I know - I just wanted to ask you something while we're trapped here." He grinned.**

**Oh, God. Please, no. Please, don't let this be happening.**

"**Will you ask me to the spring dance?"**

"**I won't be here that day, I'll be in Seattle." My voice sounded a little sharp. I had to remind myself that it wasn't his fault that Mike and Eric had already asked me. **

"**Yea, Mike did say something like that," he admitted.**

"**Why are you-"**

"**I was just hoping you were letting him down easy."**

**Okay, it was entirely his fault.**

"**Nope," I said, exasperated. "I'm really going to be out of town that day."**

"**That's cool, there's still prom."**

**He walked away before I could say 'Hell no, buddy.'. I turned back around still astonished. Edward was staring at me in his rear view mirror, as his siblings got into the car. He was shaking uncontrollably with laughter, he had been listen to the whole thing! What a pompous jerk.**

**I was ready to ram him, but before I could even rev my engine, he was off. He drove like a maniac out of the parking.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Someone called while I was making dinner that night. I'd decided to make something difficult, so I could keep my mind off of Edward. I was making some random Mexican dish I had found on the internet. I didn't really want to talk to anyone, but it could have been Charlie, so I answered it.

It was Jessica, she was ecstatic; Mike had called her to accept her invitation. I briefly celebrated with her while I stirred. She had to go, she wanted to call Lauren and Angela to tell them too. Angela was going to ask Eric the next day and Lauren Tyler, they were going to all go together. Before she hung up she said earnestly that I should come too; now that she was for sure going with Mike, I didn't threaten her anymore. I gave my Seattle excuse for the fourth time that day.

I tried to concentrate on making dinner, but naturally, my mind wondered to Edward. Why didn't he want to be my friend? He didn't know I was a shifter, he just knew I was something not human. For all he knew I could have been a fairy.

But I decided to respect his wishes, no matter how dumb they may be. If he didn't want to be friends, we wouldn't be. I would suffer through this self-inflicted sentence in purgatory, then go some where far away for college. I'd always wanted to go to Germany, why not for life? I focused my thoughts on planning a trip for when I got out of high school as I finished cooking.

Charlie was a little nervous when he came home and smelled the green peppers. Though, I couldn't blame him - after living with my mother, anyone would be apprehensive about south-of-the-border food. But he was brave enough to take the first bite, he liked it. I think he began to trust me in the kitchen with that dish.

"Dad?" I asked when he was almost done.

"Yea, Bells?"

"Um, can I go to Seattle for the day a week from Saturday?"

"Why?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, I just wanted to look for some new books. I seriously need some new reading material."

"I don't know, that doesn't sound very safe." He frowned. "Seattle is a big city."

"Dad," I said, raising my eyebrows at him. I'll admit, I was a bit surprised that he was worried about me. _Aw_. "I've lived in bigger and more populated places before."

He still looked skeptical.

"Plus," I added. "I know how to read a map."

"Okay, I guess that would be fine." He still didn't like the idea of me going, but he's a dad and I'm his only daughter. I guess he has a right to care.

"Thanks." I said as I began to clear the table.

"Are you going to be home in time to go to the dance?"

Grrr. Only in a town this small would a father know what day the dances were on.

"No, I don't want to go. Not much of a dancer." Charlie had two left feet. Hopefully he thought I did too.

"Alright." He apparently did.

I got to school the next morning a little late, not many people were still in the parking lot. I parked as far way from the stupid shiny Volvo. I wasn't really in the mood for another conversation with Edward. Also, I was still totally pissed off that he had made me talk to Tyler.

As I stepped out of my car, I fumbled with holding everything, and dropped my keys. I lied my things on the ground, stepped out of my car, and locked it before I picked them up. When I bent down though, nothing was there, but _he_ was standing next to me.

"Thank you." I said, frowning up at him. He was so dang tall and beautiful, it was hard to concentrate. And he smelt so good in the misty, rain filled air.

"You're welcome." He smiled, handing me my books which were now in a neat stack.

"Why did you block me from leaving the yesterday? Are you trying to tick me off so much just so we won't be friends. 'Cause you're doing a damn good job of it now." I huffed.

"That was for poor Tyler's sake, not mine." he chortled.

"I knew it! You're such a butt!" I said, punching him on his rock hard bicep. I ended up hurting my hand rather than even making him stagger. He laughed even harder though.

"And I'm not trying to make you mad." he continued, like nothing had ever happened.

"Then you must be trying to see what I am. Hmm, could I be a mutant? Like in X-Men? Or, gasp, am I a Silicon Based Life Form from Star Trek?" I asked sarcastically.

"Haha." he said dryly.

"Well, sorry you have no sense of humor. But, I have to get to class now. Ba-bye." I began to walk away to first hour before I even finished the sentence.

"Wait," he called. He easily kept my sluggish pace as he walked along side me. "I wanted to ask you something."

"I already told you. I'm a junior." I said slowly, as if he was very dense.

"It wasn't that."

"Fine, what do you want?"

"I was wondering if you were going to the Spring dance-" I wouldn't let him utter another word.

"Are you trying to be funny, because you are _so_ not succeeding." I told him angrily.

"Let me finish."

"Fine. Finish."

"I was wondering because I heard you say you were going to Seattle that day. I, as well, had made plans to go. Would you like to go with me?"

I was so astonished that I couldn't say anything. Plus, I didn't know whether I wanted to or not. He's so pretty, one side of my subconscious would say. But he could kill you and you _want_ to kill him, the other would argue. I was torn.

"Um, why?" I was still frowning, just yesterday he said he didn't want to be friends. "You said you didn't want to be friends."

"I said we shouldn't, not that I didn't want to be." he clarified.

"Okay, but I still want to know why you want to go with me."

"Because, the world is going Green. Didn't you hear? We should car pool to save the environment and finite natural resources."

"Um, sure, why not?" I agreed numbly, still totally and utterly shocked.

"Good." he smiled, but it quickly changed to a stern look. "We really should stay away from each other."

He turned abruptly and walked into the school.

I was in a daze as I walked to English. I didn't notice when I first walked in that class had already started.

"Nice of you to join us, Bella." Mrs. Simms said.

I was tempted to say 'I apologize for inconveniencing my learning community. I left the house late and was stopped by a Vampire to be asked absurd questions. I apologize to my classmates.' Then decided, even if it didn't have that part about the Vampire, no one would get the book quote. So, I just hurried over to my seat.

The halls were a little bit awkward that day. Mike and Eric weren't being themselves, though Tyler was happier than usual. Uhg, that boy wouldn't leave me alone. Mike seemed to gain back some of his personality, he had seen the extended forecast for the weekend and it looked promising. No rain, but it was still going to be in the mid forties. He was still going to plan a trip to First Beach in La Push that weekend.

I felt obliged to say yes, just to make up for what I had done to him the day before. I felt a little guilty, I hated turning him down, he's like a little puppy dog.

I was eager to see Edward when I walked into lunch, but as I looked over at his usual table, he wasn't there; his family was, but Edward was no where to be seen.

Disappointed, I followed Jessica into the line. She yammered on about her dance plans - the boys were picking them up and they would go out to eat before the dance - as I pondered Edwards absence.

"Why is Edward Cullen staring at _you_?" She sounded a bit jealous and disbelieving that he would be staring at me. He was sitting at a table on the opposite end of the cafeteria than normal, all alone he sat at that long table. And like Jessica had said, he was staring at me. As I looked at him, he raised one long finger and motioned that I should sit with him.

**I know, this one is pretty short. Well, shorter than the others. But I had to make it like this so the next chapter isn't like ten pages long. I'm going to have to do some serious editing on Chapter 9.**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9**_

"_**What does he want?" Jessica asked excitedly. **_

"_**I don't know. I'll go see." I said as I paid for my food.**_

_**I walked over to him slowly, like he would disappear at any moment. But with how he appears out of thin air, it wasn't too far a jump. **_

_**I walked up to the chair in front of him, but didn't sit. I was unsure if I should or not, and was a little self conscious around him.**_

"_**Please, have a seat." He gracefully motioned for me to take the spot across from him.**_

"_**This is a change." I mused, it was very odd not to see him at his usual table. The Cullen's were almost like scenery in the long room, they never moved, nor did they change.**_

"_**Just thought I'd switch it up." He smiled at me.**_

_**I looked around at the emptiness of the table, heard the quietness. It was nice.**_

"_**I like it," I told him. He smiled more. **_

"_**You're friends aren't too happy with me for stealing you away."**_

"_**They'll survive." I said as I poked around my tray. None of it looked very good, so I chose to drink my water instead. "I might not give you back."**_

"_**How do you know I'd object?" I didn't want to look up to see how he took that statement. I just took another sip of water.**_

"_**I just do." he said darkly. How ominous? Blec, sometimes he's too perturbed for his own good.**_

_**I laughed at him. "You'd be surprised by how little you know me."**_

"_**Why don't you tell me then?" He smiled crookedly at me. It was the first time I'd noticed he had lighter eyes. They were the prettiest topaz color.**_

"_**You're eyes look prettier when they're a lighter color." I said. I'd decided I'd let the chips fall where they may with that one. "I don't know what you are talking about." he said seriously.**_

"_**I'm paying you a complement, there really is no need to get all defensive on me. Jeesh."**_

_**He didn't say anything for a while, so I decided to start a new conversation.**_

"_**So, what brought this all on? Sitting here with me, I mean."**_

"_**I'm giving up."**_

"_**Oo. Smoking? Or is it alcohol?" I smiled at him, I was actually having fun teasing him.**_

"_**You know, sarcasm isn't very becoming." He sounded like an old man.**_

"_**But it sustains me." He laughed a little, but didn't elaborate, so I prodded.**_

"_**So, which is it?"**_

"_**I'm giving up leaving you alone. It's too hard and I'm much too selfish." Oh, right. He's the selfish one. I'm the one that covets this beautiful creature and he feels bad about being my friend. I should have left the second I figured out I was attracted to him. But here I sit, with him, in the middle of the cafeteria. I didn't say anything to him.**_

"_**What are you thinking about?" he asked. He was staring his usual stare down at me. He seemed oddly curious about the answer.**_

"_**How similar we are." I spoke softly, not really knowing if I should go on, or leave it at that.**_

"_**How so?" he asked quizzically. **_

"_**Well, for starters, you think you're selfish, I know**_** I am. You believe you're a monster, I know I could be. You think we should stay away from each other… I know **_**you **_**should stay away from **_**me**_**." I didn't want to admit the last part, I thought he might actually listen to me and leave… and not come back. We hadn't even spent that much time together, but it would kill me not be able to be around him anymore.**

"**You lost me along the turbulence." he said. I liked the analogy. My mind was filled with bumps and rocks that I couldn't seem to get over.**

"**It's probably better that way. You don't need to know just yet." **

"**That implies that you **_**will**_** tell me."**

"**Yes, it does. But not yet. For now, you need to stay ignorant." I told him as I was figuring it out in my own head. He needed to know, but I was afraid of how he'd take it. Vampires and Shifters' don't exactly get along for the most part. "I need to get a hold on myself."**

"**But you will tell me, right?"**

"**Eventually. Aren't I good enough for now though?"**

"**For now." I was content with that. For now. It was a good phrase. It was quiet for a moment; we both were being thoughtful.**

"**Do you think I'm a monster?" he asked suddenly. I thought about his question for a second. It wasn't one where it would be a good idea to give a brash answer.**

"**No, you're not anymore a monster than the rest of us."**

"**What's that supposed to mean?"**

"**That if they really and truly wanted to, anyone could be a monster. It's just that not everyone is a Jeffrey Dahmer or a Jack the Ripper. People have a choice, and people like you, chose to be good."**

"**How can you think that?"**

"**It's like this, Edward. You believe it or you don't, but either way you can't argue that someone was born bad, we were all made the same. And you made the right choice, you're good." **

"**You're wrong." I didn't say anything else to him on the subject, he seemed pretty stuck to what he was saying. We kept quiet until I noticed the cafeteria was almost empty. "Come on. We're going to be late."**

"**I'm not going to class today."**

"**Why?"**

"**It's healthy to ditch sometimes." he said, smiling crookedly at me.**

"**Whatever, but I'm going. See you later."**

**I half-ran to class, I actually like biology. But that might be partly based on my lab partner, who wasn't going to be there today. Dang, I thought, I should have ditched with him. But it was too late, I was already walking into Mr. Banner's room.**

"**Just in time, Ms. Swan." he said. **

**Both Mike and Jessica were staring at me, both a little resentful. I didn't care, I was still euphoric from the fumes of my lunch mate.**

"**Okay, guys, I want you all to take one piece from the box," Mr. Banner said, handing Mike said box and motioning that he should pass them out. He pulled on a pair of Latex gloves and his lab coat. "The first should be an indicator card," he went on, grabbing a white card with four squares on it. "The second is a four-pronged applicator-" he held something up that looked like a broken comb, "and the third is a sterile micro-lancet." He held up a small piece of blue plastic and split it open. The barb was small, but not invisible, my stomach went through impossible hoops. "I'll be coming around to each table, preparing the cards with the water, so don't start yet." He started with Mikes table, carefully dabbing water in each square. **

**Of course Edward had skipped, we were blood typing. I knew what was coming next, he would prick Mike's finger. I can stand the scent of shifter and Were blood, and for the most part, Vampire. But not human, the smell of human blood makes me feel like my head is going to implode at any moment. That my body will just collapse in on itself. I instinctively put my head on the cool desk to keep myself from barfing. Thankfully, I hadn't eaten anything for lunch.**

"**Bella, are you alright?" Mr. Banner asked, he sounded close to my face, but I wouldn't look up to tell. I shook my head no.**

"**Are you feeling faint?" I nodded.**

"**Can someone take Bella to the nurse's office, please?" he called. **

**I didn't need to open my eyes to see that it was Mike whose hand shot up first.**

"**Can you walk?" Mr. Banner asked. **

"**Yes," I whispered, finally opening my eyes and standing.**

**Mike was very eager to put his arm around my waist and pull my arm around his shoulder. I leaned against him heavily as we exited the room.**

**Outside, the cool misty air felt good. Even with the air, I had to sit down, my legs felt like Jell-o under me.**

"**Stop," I said to Mike. "I need to sit."**

**He helped me sit down on the side walk. I put my face against the wet pavement.**

"**Wow, you're green, Bella." Mike said nervously.**

"**Just keep your bloody hand away from me, Mike." I said menacingly, hoping he would get the picture. If the smell does this to me, imagine what the sight does.**

"**Bella?" a frantic voice called from the distance.**

**Oh, great. Not only am I surrounded by the smell of human blood, but Edward is here. Great, just flippin' fantastic. I thought icily.**

"**What's wrong - is she hurt?" He sounded upset. **

**Mike seemed stressed. "I think she fainted. I don't know what happened. She didn't even stick her finger."**

"**Bella," He was close to me, right by my ear. "Can you hear me?"**

**All I could do was nod. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth I throw up all over him. That would make matters worse.**

"**I was taking her to the nurse." Mike said defensively. "But she wouldn't go any further."**

"**I'll take her," Edward said. "You go on back to class."**

"**No," Mike protested. "I'm supposed to take her."**

**Before Mike had even finished his sentence, Edward picked me up. I began to remonstrate, but his smell calmed me and made me feel better. I clung to him, my arms around his neck and my eyes tightly shut. **

"**Hey!" Mike called, already ten paces behind us.**

**Edward ignored him. "You look awful," he told me.**

"**Thanks so much." I wasn't in the mood to be told how crappy I looked. I knew good and well that I wasn't looking very nice.**

**He chuckled as he carried me through the office doors.**

"**Oh, dear!" Mrs. Metzger, the office attendant, exclaimed as we entered the little room.**

"**She fainted in Biology." Edward said smoothly.**

**I heard a door squeak open and felt Edward carry me through it, but didn't open my eyes. I was feeling better, but the swift movement of his arms would surely roll my stomach. Therefore, I spared myself the embarrassment and kept them shut as to not vomit all over him.**

**Edward laid me down on the crackly paper of the cot in the middle of the nurse's office. When I realized I was lying on a stationary object, I opened my eyes. **

**The nurse was standing over me. She was eager to find something wrong with me, she must have a very boring job. **

"**She's just a little faint." Edward reassured her. "They're blood typing in biology."**

**The eager expression in her face faded. "There's always one." she sighed.**

**Edward snickered, I glared at him from my place on the low cot.**

"**Lie down, honey; it'll pass."**

"**I know."**

"**This happen a lot?"**

**Reluctantly, I answered yes.**

**Edward coughed, hiding yet another fit of laughter. I shot daggers at him from the corner of my eye.**

"**You can go back to class." she said to him.**

"**I'm supposed to stay with her." he said authoritatively. **

**She looked skeptical, but didn't voice her qualms.**

"**I'll go get some ice for your head." she said as she bustled out of the room.**

**I didn't think I needed it, I could have walked out then and there and been fine. Actually, I just wanted to be out of the cramped little space.**

"**You scared me for a minute." he said, after a little bit of silence. His tone made it seem like he was admitting some deep, dark, humiliating, secret. "I thought Newton was dragging you're body off to burry it in the woods."**

"**Hardy-Har-Har."**

"**Honestly- I've seen corpses with better color than you." Omg, a vampire? Seen dead people? Never would I have guessed it. "I was afraid I was going to have to avenge you're murder."**

**Would he? Would he really avenge my death? I was stuck on that and couldn't speak for a moment. Was he just making a joke, or did he really care that much?**

"**Poor Mike." That was all I could come up with at that time.**

**Edward gleefully giggled, "He absolutely loathes me."**

"**You can't know that for sure."**

"**I've seen the way he glares at me. Though, that might be just because I'm spending more time with you than he approves of."**

"**He does seem to be a bit over protective. I'm going to have to do something about that."**

"**He seems to think you like it."**

"**Well, he **_**seems **_**to be an idiot."**

**Edward chuckled, but didn't say anything more.**

"**How did you know I was in need of **_**assistance**_**?" I thought that was a good enough euphemism. "I thought you were ditching."**

"**I was sitting in my car." He's such a random person. I almost couldn't keep it in my head that he was a vampire.**

**The nurse walked in and gave me a cold compress.**

"**Here you go, dear." She laid it across my forehead. "You look better."**

"**I'm fine, really." I told her, sitting up. "It was nothing."**

**She began to tell me to lay back down, but Mrs. Metzger stuck her head in.**

"**We've go another one," she warned. I, thankfully, hopped down to free the cot for the next of the weak-stomached and lame. I left the compress lying where I had been.**

**Mike staggered in then, now supporting an ill-looking Chandler Smith, another boy in our class. **

"**Bella, get out." Edward muttered. He was standing right next to me, but I hadn't even noticed he'd moved.**

**I didn't know why I needed to at first, but then I smelt it. Chandler was bleeding, much worse than Mike had been. I spun and caught the door before it closed, darting out of the infirmary. I could feel Edward right behind me. **

"**You actually listened to me." He was very amused and displeased by this.**

"**I could smell the blood, Edward. It had absolutely nothing to do with your ordering me to leave."**

"**You couldn't have; people can't smell blood." he contradicted.**

"**I'm not people."**

**Mike walked back into the office as Edward and I were staring at each other. The look he gave Edward made me believe what Edward had said about loathing. He looked at me with glum eyes.**

"**Looking better, I see."**

"**Just keep your hand in your pocket and I will continue to."**

"**It's not even bleeding anymore." he muttered. "You going back to class?"**

"**I would just have to come right back here."**

"**Oh… But you're going this weekend, right? To the beach?" The way he said it made it clear it wasn't an open invitation. Not that Edward was even listening; he was leaning against the back wall, staring into space.**

"**I said I was." I tried to sound friendly, but I couldn't when Mike got all huffy because I was with Edward. It was very hard not to be a jerk to him. I'm still not sure why, but I felt I had to protect Edward from this human's rudeness. **

"**We're meeting at ten at my dad's store." **

"**I'll be there." I promised.**

"**See you in Gym." he said, moving toward the door. He shot a devil's glance at Edward before he turned and exited the office.**

"**I forgot about Gym." I was so not in the mood to run around and be sweaty.**

"**I'll take care of that." I hadn't noticed that Edward had moved, but he said that in my ear. "Go sit and look pale."**

**Not a hard thing to accomplish for me. I was always pale, and the aftermath of my recent swoon was that I had a light sheen of sweat on my face. I sat in one of the small chairs in the corner and closed my eyes. **

**I heard Edward speaking softly at the counter. He had a voice as smooth as silk, I'm surprised Mrs. Metzger didn't drown in her drool.**

"**Mrs. Metzger?" he said sweetly.**

"**Yes?"**

"**Bella has Gym later, and I'm afraid she's not in any condition to go to it. Actually, I was thinking that I should take her home. Do you think you could excuse her from classes?"**

"**Do you need to be excused too, Edward?" she asked, a bit flustered. **

"**No need for that, I have Mrs. Fouse, she won't mind."**

"**Alright, all taken care of. You get to feeling better, Bella." she called to me.**

**I nodded slowly. Putting on a show for people in a trance set by a Vampire was easy.**

**I began to stand, but Edward put his hands on my shoulders. "Are you sure you don't need to be carried again?" he asked sarcastically.**

"**No thanks, I'll walk this time." I said as I pushed past him to the door.**

**I stood in the rain for a second, letting it wash down over me. It was a refreshing feeling, no wonder people like to sing in the rain. **

**I had the urge to ask Edward to join me this weekend when we went to the beach. But didn't think he would go; I wasn't in the mood to be rejected.**

**I began to walk toward the parking lot, turning to the end that my car was parked in. **

"**Where do you think you're going?" he said, snatching the hood of my parka to keep me from going any further.**

"**Have you already forgotten? You got me out of school. I'm going home.**

"**Have you forgotten? I promised to see you home safely."**

"**Well, you can see me safely to my car, because I'm not leaving her here." I said stubbornly.**

"**I'll have Alice drop it off after school." He was towing me toward his car now, pulling me by my jacket. I stood in my place and at first he actually had trouble pulling me with little more than human strength. "Oh, come off it, Bella. I'm taking you home." He cheated and used his vampire strength to pull me the rest of the way.**

**We were at his car now, he had left me by the passenger door and he was settling into the driver seat. As soon as he was in an the door was shut, I was off. I wasn't going to let him push me into his car.**

**Before I had even passed three cars, he was standing in front of me. I didn't even have a chance to say anything before he picked me up by my hips and threw me over his shoulder. **

"**Edward!" I screamed in surprise. This was not a way to get on my good side. How dare he throw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes! "Put me down!" I protested over and over again.**

"**You put you're self in this position." he said calmly.**

"**No, you put me over you're shoulder. I was just trying to go home."**

**We were at the car by then, he set me in front of the open passenger door, waiting for me to get in. It was still raining and we were both drenched.**

**He nudged me lightly with his hand.**

"**You're so **_**pushy**_**." I grumbled as I squeakily climbed into his car.**

**He gently settled into the driver seat, not making a sound. He fiddled with the controls; turning up the heat, the music down. I was going into full on silent treatment until I recognized what he had been listening to.**

"**Do you listen to a lot of classical music?" I asked, I wondered whether he had lived long enough to see most of it conducted by it's original composer.**

"**Yes, do you like Debussy?" he asked. He was surprised I had given in so easily, we hadn't even made it out of the parking lot yet.**

"**He's okay, I suppose." I said contemptuously. "I was always more partial to Salieri."**

"**Oh, really? What's your favorite?" He was again surprised, only because I actually knew my music.**

"**I love all his work, but my favorite of his operas is Der Rauchfangkehrer."**

**He raised his eye brows at me. By the way, I hate it when people do that, it makes me feel as if I'm being chastised with one swift glance.**

"**He's a very underrated composer." I said defensively.**

"**And a murderer." he muttered.**

"**Oh gosh! You don't really believe that crap, do you? It's a conspiracy, there isn't a smidge of evidence that he committed any conspiratorial acts against Mozart. It was all created to make a good movie plot."**

"**What ever you say." he said lightly.**

**I didn't say anything to him, just looked out the window at the fast moving green scenery.**

"**What other music do you like?" he asked.**

"**Everything; well, except rap. Talking to a beat isn't music, it's just crap." I said, still not looking at him.**

"**Do you have a favorite?" he asked.**

"**Not really, like I said, I listen to everything. But lately, I've been listening to oldies. You know, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Johnny Cash."**

"**You think that's oldies?" I hadn't been thinking about his age, maybe they were still new to him; although half of the people I had mention were already dead and the other half in their sixties or above.**

"**I mean as in Rock and Roll. Those guys invented it." I loved talking about music with him, most people don't even know who Ringo Starr is. "Of course I like music from before, Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington are amazing. But I'm more into newer age music."**

**He seemed to be reminiscing, he just stared out the window into nothing.**

"**You don't act like a seventeen year old." he said, finally looking at me. We had pulled up to Charlie's house, but I didn't make any moves of getting out.**

"**It's hard to be when you have so much stuff going on that people my age won't ever even know about." I said, he would understand. He knew what I was talking about, just not to what extent. **

"**I wish you would tell me." he said.**

"**You don't exactly have a scarcity of secrets yourself, Edward." I reminded him.**

"**You're right, I do have secrets. But I can't help but think you already know what they are." His golden eyes were piercing mine.**

"**Why would you think that?" I asked a little scared. I had just begun to talk to him, I wasn't ready to spill my guts. I wasn't ready to see him run from me as all others did.**

"**The way you look sometimes, like you're thinking about what I am; like you know something others don't." **

"**I know many things others don't, but I **_**won't**_** tell them." I said pointedly. I couldn't help but get the feeling that he was afraid I would tell his 'secret'.**

"**I don't think you would either." I didn't speak for a bit. I had a debate going on with myself about whether I should continue on the conversational path my mind was leading me.**

"**I just want you to know something, Edward. But before I tell you though, I have to let you know that by me doing this it doesn't mean I'm going to tell you what I am right now or even soon." He nodded. I struggled with how to begin.**

"**I don't like what I am. And I don't like others like myself. And more than that, I hate what I have to do for those people. I'm not the weak link, I'm powerful, and some of my kind don't like that. Many dislike my specific type, actually." I pondered for a minute how to go on. He didn't say anything, he let me get my thoughts in order.**

"**I'm afraid of myself sometimes, what I could do to those humans - to you - makes me cringe. I don't want to be a monster in a horror film; just as you don't want to either. What I'm afraid of more is that, my parents will see that I could be that monster, that it isn't but I short step away. I have a very short fuse, and they wouldn't want to see it lit." I stared at him, pleading him to understand me. I wanted him to know that; maybe the way I felt about myself could stop him from screaming away in terror.**

**He smiled a little. "We are much alike."**

"**Told you," I said with a weak smile myself. I inhaled deeply, he smelt so good; he made me not hurt anymore. I desperately wanted to tell him, but I knew I couldn't; I shouldn't.**

"**I won't pressure you into telling me until you're ready."**

"**Thank you. But you better be going, wouldn't want it to be my fault that you're brothers and sisters were left out in the rain." My smile widened as the best idea popped into my head.**

"**You're right, wouldn't want that. I guess I'll see you Monday then?"**

"**Sure," I said as I quickly leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He hadn't been expecting that, so he sat there dumbly as I scrambled out of the little car.**

"**Bye, Edward." I smugly said, as I closed the passenger door. I barely heard him mumble a reply as he sped away back to the high school.**

**I smiled the whole way into the house, and more than once that night Charlie asked me why I was so happy. He said he hadn't seen me that way since I moved in. **

**I told him it must be the good forecast for the weekend. What I neglected to tell him was that I was absolutely in love with Edward Cullen; the Vampire.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I woke up early the next morning, not intentionally though. I was still having the same dreams as I had before, each time more in depth than the last. They always ended the same way, but I was able to be with Edward longer.

I needed to know what happened, did I live? More importantly, did Edward? I was so afraid that the dream would come true, that some how that was the future and I would have to do something about it. It confused me greatly because I had no idea what I would do if that situation ever came to be. I didn't think I would be able to fight off all of those wolves, but I would have to try. Edward's life would be at stake.

It was only seven o'clock, but I decided to get up anyway. No reason to stay in bed and wallow in that ominous dream. I couldn't stand it.

The shower did lessen my nerves, but it didn't help much because I would have to go to the beach and try to act normal. I wasn't happy that I had agreed to go on the little trip, but I wasn't one to break a promise.

Charlie was already gone, he left a note saying he was fishing with Billy that day. As I was deciphering the messy script, I remembered I hadn't driven myself home the day before. I ran to the front door and threw it open to check on my car.

There she sat in the drive way, where I usually parked her. She looked unharmed, but I had to check. I looked her over twice and decided she was how I left her. Walking slowly, I went back into the house to eat breakfast.

By the time I was finished eating and had cleaned my dishes, it was only eight thirty. I had over an hour before I had to meet everyone. I hadn't checked my e-mail in over a week and was afraid my mom might be about to call the police about a missing child. So, I decided to do that first.

I had four e-mails; all said the same, except each kept getting more hysteric as time passed. I sent her four e-mails back. Mine said pretty much the same thing, but in different sequences. I had nothing of importance to tell her, I talked about the nice weather and my trip to the beach. I left out all of what had happened the day before, especially the Edward parts of the day.

When I was done I had an hour to go. Looking around the room for something to do, I saw that it was a dreadful mess. The next thing on my list to do was clean my room.

I finally finished forty-five minutes later. Cleaning had been a hazardous job, I stepped on three thumb tacks and broke two hangers. At least the trip would more than likely be less hazardous than cleaning. It was time to leave, to be with the humans, all day. I was not looking forward to it.

I drove the whole way there trying to find something to listen to. I chose Elliot Minor, but when my favorite song began to play, I pulled into the tiny parking lot of the smallish store.

Pretty much everyone was already there, there seemed to be about fifteen people going with us. Joy.

"Hey, Bella!" Mike called as I got out of my car; aka my safe haven.

"Hi, Mike." I replied.

"We're just waiting for Chandler and Allison… unless you invited someone else." he added. His eyes were worried.

"Nope, just me." I told him.

"Ride with me, Bella?" Mike looked hopeful. It was that or Chandler's mom's minivan anyway.

"Sure," I said, he was in a state of bliss. He was so easily pleased.

He was about to say something else when I noticed Jessica glowering at me from were she stood flanked by Lauren and Allison, who had just arrived.

"Jess," I called, as if she hadn't been listening and watching intently. "Sit with me in Mike's car?"

Her glower turned into an impish, flirty smile. She looked at Mike and asked if it was alright with him. Mike was oblivious to her flirtation; uhg, boys are such… boys. He said it was alright and the whole way there she was in a good mood.

It was me, Jessica, and Mike in the front seat of his dad's suburban. And Lauren, Tyler, Angela, Ben, and Eric in the back. The rest of the people were in Chandler's car; I still didn't know most of their names.

It was only a fifteen minute ride to La Push, but with eight people in the car, three of which in the front seat, it was a bit claustrophobic. I rolled down the window, it was a sunny, non-rainy day, I tried to soak up as much sun a possible, it was the one thing that I missed most about my other homes; the sun.

As we picked our way down the beach, Mike in the lead, we found the perfect spot. It was a circular fire pit that had obviously been used by other parties like ours. Mike had us all find pieces of driftwood for the fire.

"Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?" Mike asked as he lit one of the smaller branches with a cigarette lighter. He was trying way too hard to be cool.

"No," I said as I perched on a bench in front of the teepee-like form made of driftwood. He placed the blazing stick carefully against the structure. The girls on either side didn't even look as he began to light the fire, they just kept on with their quiet gossip.

He smiled, "You'll love this." he told me with enthusiastic eyes.

As soon as the dry wood caught, the flames licked up all sides. The fire was huge and a beautiful color of blue.

"Amazing." I whispered in awe, I had never seen anything so wonderful.

"It's pretty isn't it?" he said and sat next to me. Thankfully, as soon as he sat, Jessica did too on his other side and grabbed his attention. I watched the strange blue and green flames as everyone around me socialized, I felt out of place and oddly at ease.

After a little bit of talking, the boys got restless and wanted to take a hike on a near-by path through the woods. I didn't even think about whether I wanted to go or not.

As soon a Tyler said he wanted to go, so did Lauren. I was set on not going from then and there.

Angela stayed behind with me, she said she wasn't much of a hiker. Mike tried to do the same, but Jessica tugged and tugged on his sleeve till he gave into her.

I had time to think now that the group was smaller. Angela was talking to Chandler, so I could go uninterrupted.

Edward swam through my mind, as per usual. I had so many questions. What was he doing right now? Did he wonder the same thing about me? What did he think when I had kissed him? What would he say when I saw him on Monday? When would I need to tell him what I was?

The last one was a toughy. I didn't want to lie to him any longer, but was still worried that he wouldn't accept me. I was in a battle with my heart and my mind. My heart said, 'Tell him, you love him, he loves you.' I of course didn't know if he loved me, for one I didn't deserve his love, but that's what my heart was pulling me towards.

My mind argued that fact. I was a horrible monster, undeserving of any sort of loving or nurturing from any creature, whether it was a wretched Vampire or not. I had thought those very thoughts for years, it was one of the deciding factors in my moving to Forks. I didn't want to hurt my mother anymore, I couldn't bear it.

I could still remember clearly the fear in her eyes the day I showed her what I was. That first full moon was the worst night of my life, my mother wasn't the same after that day. Speaking of the full moon, it was the very next day.

I made a vow with myself that I would tell Edward before the next full moon after tomorrow. I would make myself keep it too; Edward had to know. I had to know. I worried too much about whether he could deal with what I was or not, I couldn't do it anymore.

The sounds of shouts and laughter brought me out of my metal debate. The hiking group was on their way back, they were hungry. And just as they arrived, so did another group. These were teenagers from the reservation, coming to socialize. I recognized one of them; Jacob Black was in the small group. They all had the same copper skin and dark black hair and they all were Shape Shifters. Inbred though, I could tell from first glance. Wolves probably.

Mike brought me and Angela a sandwich and sat next to me until Jessica squeezed herself in between us. She really was afraid I would take him away or something. Paranoia was setting in for her, big time.

I was left alone again to think while I ate. Edward was all I could think about. He filled my mind. His voice, his scent, his looks, everything. Edward, Edward, Edward.

The sun was hidden by the clouds when everyone had finished eating, it was only a matter of time. Everyone complained anyway, I was sort of praying for rain; ready to get home.

Jacob was sitting next to Lauren, so I didn't make any attempts to talk to him. But he noticed me finally and his attention for Lauren evaporated. I felt bad about it, but I was happy.

"Hey Bella!" he said.

"Hey, Jake!" I called back with a toothy grin.

"You know Bella, Jacob?" Lauren asked in an audacious tone, like it was digesting to talk to someone that knew me.

"We go way back, don't we Bells?" he said.

"Sure do." I told Lauren directly with a smug smile.

"How lovely." she said and turned to chat up the poor boy to her left.

Jacob came to sit by me, but before he could get a word in Lauren started calling to us again.

"Bella, I was just saying to Tyler that it was a shame none of the Cullen's could come. Didn't you think to invite Edward, I heard you two were getting pretty close." she said in a brazen tone of voice.

"Do you mean Dr. Cullen and his family?" on of the natives asked her before I could reply.

"Yes, do you know them?" she raised her eyebrows at him as she spoke.

"The Cullen's _don't_ come here." he said, implying that they weren't allowed not just that they didn't. I had to find out what that was all about. I hatched a plan to get Jacob along and question him.

Tyler distracted Lauren somehow and she didn't ask anymore questions. I put my plan in motion.

"Take a walk with me?" I said, standing up and grabbing his hand.

"S-sure." he stuttered, he was taken aback, but bounced back quickly and lead me down the beach.

"So, how old are you, Jacob? Seventeen, eighteen?" I exaggerated his age largely, he was fifteen at the most. But I had to get him softened up for my questioning about the Cullen's.

"No, only fifteen." he said sheepishly.

"Really?" I said in fake surprise that hopefully sounded real. "You look much older."

"I'm tall." Sure he is, he's a shape shifter; duh.

"Who was the boy taking to Lauren?" I asked him, hoping to seem mindless of the answer.

"That's Sam - he's nineteen."

"What was that he was saying about the Cullen's?" I asked.

He stopped in his tracks, making me come to a halt as well; we were still holding hands.

"Don't you even think about it, Bella." he said forcefully.

"What?" I was dumbfounded.

"You know what, Bella. I'm not dumb. I know what you are and you know what I am. You also know what the Cullen's are." he glared at me. Damn, he knew what my plan was from the start. Maybe he didn't though, so I changed course just a bit.

"Yes, of course I do. You're a Shifter, I'm a Shifter. They are Vampires." I said in voice which entailed that everyone knew that. "I was just asking because Sam made it seem that they weren't allowed to come, no just that they didn't."

"Oh, right. Well, okay then." he said, I prompted him to go on. "Well, when my great-grandfather was pack master here, the Cullen's lived in Forks. My great-grandfather caught them hunting in our territory."

I gasped, I hadn't thought about their dietary habits.

"Not humans, though." He understood what my gasp was for and clarified. "They claimed that they only hunted animals. So, my great-grandfather made a treaty with them. If they didn't hunt near the tribe's territory, he wouldn't expose them to the pale-faces."

"Oh," I was still a little confused. Never had I heard of Vampires that didn't feed on humans. "So, the Cullen's that live in Forks now are the same ones that your great-grandfather met with?"

"Yes." he spoke softly. "There are more of them now, a new female and male have joined the coven. The rest are the same though."

"Jake?" I said after a little while of silence.

"Yea?"

"Why did you think I was asking about them earlier, when you made us stop?"

"It was nothing." He looked embarrassed.

"Can't I know?" I asked sweetly.

"I don't know. It was what that girl had said, that you and one of them were "close." It made it seem like you two were together."

I laughed nervously. "A Vampire? Are you crazy?"

He laughed too, more naturally though. "Must be."

"So, do you come to Forks a lot?" I asked. He might turn out to be an actual friend that I could talk to about _some_ of my supernatural problems.

"No, but when I finish my car I definitely will." he smiled widely.

"There you are, Bella!" Jacob's and my head both snapped up at the sound of the approaching visitors. It was Mike and Jessica.

"I guess that's your boyfriend." Jacob said, a little depressed.

"Not at all." I said as I shook my head feverishly.

"So when I finish my car…" he began.

"You come anytime you want." I said and winked at him before Mike got too close to us.

"Where have you been? We've been looking for you." he said, appraising Jacob and seeming not so happy by his muscular build and broad shoulders; Mike had none of that stuff.

"Jacob and I were just catching up." I told him. I smiled at Jacob warmly, he grinned back.

"Well, we're leaving soon. It's going to rain." he said, not very happy at tall with the situation.

"'Kay, I'm coming." I said as I jumped up the stair-like rocks.

"Nice to see you _again_, Bella." Jacob called loud enough for Mike to hear too. Oh well, I said to myself, boys will be boys.

"It was! I'll come back soon so we can hang out." I promised.

It started raining as we tramped up the many rocks to gather in the suburban. It was nice, dry and warm in the car and I didn't mind the cramped feeling. I climbed in back, next to Angela and Ben. I didn't want to talk to Mike about Jacob and I could see that if I did sit in front it was sure to follow and be very awkward.

When I got home, I went straight to bed. I was pooped.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**I had the usual dream, nothing different than the night before, just more restless. I woke up many times in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. It took hours to fall back asleep and I would have the same dream again. It was all so strange and familiar. So bizarre was my subconscious.**

**When I finally went back to sleep after waking up for the fifth time, I slept dreamlessly. I awoke at noon, thanking the Lord that I wouldn't have to go to school that day. I was waiting impatiently for the moon to rise so I could shift.**

**The weather was still nice, so the night air would be enjoyable also. But what to do until then? **

**I decided to take a book outside and relax, something I normally don't get the pleasure of doing. Searching through my piles of books - Christopher Marlowe, Victor Hugo, HP Lovecraft, Jon Keats, Stephenie Meyer- I stumbled across a very tattered copy of Jane Austen's **_**Sense and Sensibility**_**. **

**Descending the stairs with my favorite book in my hand, I grabbed a blanket and went outside to read. I cracked the book open to a random page, when you've read a book that many times, you're never lost.**

**Though, I had forgotten who Elinor Dashwood's love interest was in the book, **_**Edward**_** Ferras. As soon as his name was written, I was out of the book and in my own world. No longer was Elinor wondering of Edward's love for her, I was. **

**I put the book down and was about to go inside for another one when I smelt him. It was unbelievable. He couldn't be in the woods behind my house. Why would he?**

**Despite my wonderings, I followed the scent. I only walked a few meters into the shade of the forest when the scent thickened. It was so strong it was like I was standing right next to him. **

**I followed the scent past millions of trees, deeper and deeper into the woods. His scent kept getting stronger and stronger the farther I went. I got as far as being able to see his dwelling when I smelt the others. Their odors were like a smack in the face, what was I doing? I couldn't be here. **

**I quickly ran back to my home. I had come so close to being caught! As soon as I was out of the cover of the trees, I couldn't smell him any longer. It was the strangest thing, like he stood there just behind the shade, watching, waiting for something to happen. **

**It was already getting late, almost dark. I scampered inside, ready for the moon to rise. Ready to become something more. **

**Just like the other times, I opened my window, closed my curtains, and undressed. It was only a second before it came, the same as usual; the stench of magic, the veil of fog, and poof. No more human Bella, just a small black cat.**

**I lithely jumped onto the windowsill and hissed louder and scarier than I had ever before in my years. Edward was sitting on the edge of the roof right in front of my window!**

**My claws extended and I hunched my back. Hissing and growling, I walked onto the roof, my eyes locked on his. I hoped he didn't know it was me, I wasn't ready for that. **

**He just sat their, placidly; not moving a muscle, not breathing. Suddenly, he jumped up and ran back into the forest. I watched as he ran, he was faster than I had ever seen in my life. I couldn't just let him run away and not know where he was going, so I followed him.**

**He was out of my sights when I got to the forest, but I could follow the new trail he had left with his fragrance. At first, it was the same path I had taken this morning, back to his house. But abruptly, it changed course, veered left out into more trees. **

**It seemed to go on for miles, the new route he was taking. Soon though, it came to a small meadow with trees around all sides in a lop-sided circle. He was sitting in the middle of the little alcove, staring up at the stars. **

**This was the same meadow in my dream! I plopped down on the soft, mildly wet grass and put my head under my paws. Either I was going to have to give Edward up and leave, or I would have to face my old pack in this beautiful place. **

**I pulled myself together and decided that I would leave and go find a mouse or something, but as I stood, I caught Edward's eyes. He gaped at me for a millisecond, but I saw it, he knew something was odd about this little black cat. He slowly crawled over to where I stood, petrified, frozen in my place. **

**He stopped a few feet from me, his hand outstretched as if he was going to pet me. When I didn't move away from him, he took it as I sign that I would let him touch me. He smelt even better when I was in my second form, it was amazing, blissful. **

**His touch was soft like velvet, it surprised me. I immediately began purring which made him chuckle.**

"**What's your name, kitty?" he asked with a smile. He didn't wait for an answer. "You smell so much like Bella, it's lovely. I suppose the reason to that is that you're her cat. I didn't know she had one." He paused for a moment, appraising me as he took me into his arms and set me in his lap.**

"**I think I'll call you Bella, it fits." he continued. He laid back against a tree with me in his lap and hummed the beginnings of the tune he hummed in my dream. **

**I definitely wouldn't be able to leave him, I wasn't strong enough. I would just have to find a way to keep the pack away from me and Edward. Or at least away from the knowledge that Edward and I were together, not that it had happened yet. I was getting way a head of myself.**

**It startled me when the sun began to rise, I had to get far away from Edward before I began to shift back into my human form. I would tell him what I was soon, but he couldn't find out after spending a night humming to my 'cat.' **

**I sinuously leaped from his lap. "What is it, Bella?" he asked.**

**I stared at the sunrise, hoping he would get the gesture. He followed my gaze and then spoke, "Oh, I see, I must go as well." He bent down and scratched behind my ears, I purred even louder. I hadn't stopped purring all night and I hadn't slept a wink. I was going to fall asleep at school. **

"**Goodbye, Bella." he said before he vanished.**

**I ran home almost in a high, that's how crazy his scent made me! I might as well have been smoking something illegal. **

**I didn't have long, but I would try to get ready. I rushed to school, I wanted to see Edward, wanted to know what he thought of the Friday before, wanted to know if he would say anything about my 'kitty.'**

**I had been in such a rush that I didn't notice what the weather was like, it was sunny. Obviously, a vampire couldn't come out in the sunlight. For Christ's sake, he would sparkle! That would be like me morphing in front of humans, he'd be a goner for sure. I could almost hear the clinking of pitch forks just thinking about it.**

**Also, I hadn't noticed what time it was, school didn't start for another half-hour. Edward wasn't even there and I had oodles of time to waste. I picked up my tattered copy of **_**Emma**_**, another book by Ms. Austen, but no Edward this time. **

**I chose to start from the beginning in this one, but didn't get very far. People were starting to drive into the lot and the first to spot me was Mike. **

"**Hey, Bella!" he called as he hurried over to me where I sat on one of the benches in front of the school.**

"**Hey, Mike." I replied, barely raising my nose out of my book. I did notice, though, the audacious choice of clothing he had made that day. He was wearing shorts and a T-Shirt, it may have been sunny, but it was still in the low sixties. **

"**It's a nice day, huh?" he said as he sat down next to me.**

**Seeing as he wasn't going to leave, I put my book down to talk him. "Mhm, my kind of day."**

"**So, I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with me tonight?" He was very hopeful and very abrupt. I wanted to be nice and let him down easy, kind of like with the dance, but if I did he would just keep coming back. When will he get it into his head? I don't like him! I decided to give it to him straight.**

"**Mike, are you a dolt? I -" I couldn't do it, I couldn't say that I didn't like him and crush him like that. I'm weak, I know. "I don't think it would be a good idea, especially since you're going to the dance with Jessica."**

"**But Jess and I aren't dating or anything." he said defensively.**

"**No, but she really likes you and I can't hurt her like that. It would be and horrible thing to do." **

"**She likes me?" he asked incredulously.**

"**Do you have an infinitesimal piece of your brain left? I mean, really, Mike? Did you not notice her clinging to you like glue on Saturday?" I may have been a little harsh, but that boy needed some sense knocked into his thick skull.**

"**Oh, I guess I hadn't noticed." he said with a frown, like he was trying to remember **_**way**_** back to Saturday. **

"**You should ask her out, she'd like that." I told him as I stood to go to class.**

"**Yea, you're right."**

"**I'm going to class now, bye." I said quickly, trying to hide my chagrin. I couldn't believe him, what an idiot.**

**The day passed by rather quickly for a school day, mostly because Edward wasn't there and I had grown accustomed to at least having him sit by me giving me the silent treatment.**

**Jessica, Angela, and Lauren talked non stop during lunch about going to Port Angeles to go dress shopping. I was going of course, I couldn't be antisocial just because Edward wasn't at school. We would be going the next day after school. **

**I left school without talking to anyone when the final bell rang, I was in a horrible humor. After a full day of zero to nothing talk about dances and dresses and shoes and earrings… you can imagine how long **_**that**_** list is. I was tired and ready for bead and more than anything ready to see Edward. It had only been three days and I missed him! **

**What was I going to do? I couldn't help but to miss him, he was so amazing and I didn't deserve him a smidge. Yet, on Saturday we would be going to Seattle together. Not that I really needed to go, but to be able to go with him; it elated me just to think about spending a full day with him, no matter what we would be doing. **

**Charlie was confused when I told him that I was going with the girls to Port Angeles to go dress shopping, like any dad would be.**

"**I thought you weren't going to the dance?" he asked with a furrowed brow.**

"**I'm not, dad, I'm just helping them choose a dress. You know, critiquing the styles, cuts, colors." I said, he would need this explained more times probably.**

"**So, you're **_**not**_** going to the dance?" he asked, hoping that the answer would be that I was going. In what dimension does a dad want his teenage daughter to date boys? Am I in the Twilight Zone?**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"No, dad, I'm not going. I'm going to Seattle that day, remember?" I said with a bit of a tone that he didn't catch.

"Oh, that's right. Well, you might get back in time to go to the dance." he said optimistically.

"Don't count on it." I muttered as I got up to clean my dishes.

It was another sunny day when I woke the next morning. I was hoping for the usual cloudy day, but was disappointed. We finally get good weather and now I want the bad conditions back. I'm going mental.

Even with my disappointment rising, I dressed nicely for the warm weather. My beautiful deep-blue V-neck blouse had been hanging in my closet abandoned because of the rain.

I planned my arrival to school so I just had mere seconds to scurry to first period, easily avoiding awkward conversations with stupid boys. As I pulled into the lot at school, my heart sank even deeper. I knew he wouldn't be there, but I couldn't help but hope he would wear a full on cape or something so he could be. I rushed to English a bit saddened.

It was the same as yesterday; the hoping in the back of my mind being squashed as I saw the empty vampire table and sat at my empty lab table in biology.

The Port Angeles trip was still on and Mike had asked Jessica to go out with him on Thursday. Aw, how sweet? Wonder where he got that idea?

After school, Jessica followed me home in her old white Mercury so that I could ditch my books and we could drive to Angela's and pick her up. I brushed through my knotted hair quickly when I was inside, feeling a slight lift of excitement at the prospect of leaving Forks, even for a few hours. I left a note for Charlie on the table, explaining again where to find dinner and ran out to meet Jessica. Angela was already waiting on her front porch when we pulled up to her house. My enthusiasm increased exponentially as we actually drove out of the town limits.

"Port Angeles, here we come!" we all sang as we drove down the interstate, windows open.

The ride was, to my great and utter surprise, actually fun. Although, Jessica insisted on listening to her crappy cry your heart out girl pop-music the entire way there. Thankfully, Lauren wasn't there, she had been held up by some prior obligation or something. We girl talked most of the time, but no matter how much I liked these girls, they weren't like me. And they never would be.

I was different from them, a whole different being. I missed my old home, even with the ominous dreams I was having about the Weres there.

Port Angeles wasn't quite as quaint as Forks, but still very small. It was a beautiful tourist trap though, the building fronts were festooned with anything old-fashioned.

Jessica and Angela knew it well, they walked straight passed all the interesting looking stores and walked into the only department store. I could smell the bay, which was only a few blocks down, as we entered the store.

The dance was set as semi-formal, and we weren't exactly sure what that meant. They went right to the Juniors section and started picking out dresses. With everyone they snatched they turned to me and the other and asked her opinion.

I sat on the lone chair in the dressing room as they both tried on piles of clothes. Jessica walked out in a lovely long, red, sequined dress.

I made a face of concentration to make her happy, even though I already knew what I would say about it. "It looks like a prom dress."

"Too fancy?" she asks, staring at herself in the wide mirror.

"Yea, a bit." Angela replies as she walks out in a cute, short, pink, sundress.

"Thought so." Jessica mumbles. "Oh, but that one is perfect for you!"

"You think?" She says as she takes Jessica's place in front of the mirror.

"Amazing." Jessica and I say in unison. We dissolve into giggles.

They both go into their rooms to try on another one.

"Aren't you going to try anything on, Bella?" Jessica calls over the stall door.

"No, I'm not going." Not another conversation about this subject.

"What about a prom dress?" Angela asks.

"I'm probably not going to that dance, either." I say.

"But Tyler said you were going with him." Jessica says, walking from her little cubicle.

"Beg your pardon?" I sounded like I was choking.

"Told you it wasn't true." Angela murmured to her as she too walked out, not looking me in the eyes.

"He is _so_ dead." I mutter, vexed by the whole situation.

Neither of them said anything more on the subject. After about an our of trying on dresses, they both found one they liked. Jessica's was a beautiful royal blue and Angela's was a light pink.

We planned to go to dinner at a little Italian restaurant on the boardwalk, but the dress shopping hadn't taken as long as we had expected. Jess and Angela wanted to take walk down the bay after they took their new things back to the car. I told them I wanted to look for a bookstore and would meet them in an hour at the restaurant. They both offered to go with me, but I turned them down. I said it would be very boring, being with me in a bookstore was about as much of an adventure as watching the grass grow. They laughed at this, but agreed to meet me in an hour.

They walked away talking merely about God knows what and I turned the other direction and headed down the sidewalk. The bookstore wasn't like the ones I was used to. Ones with big tall ceilings filled with all the books you could ever want to read, and more, a coffee shop in the back to make the whole place smell wonderful. Aside form Edward, bookstores make my favorite scent; they smell like untouched paper and sweet coffee, delicious.

This one however, wasn't at all like the ones I knew of. It was tiny and cramped, it mostly had books about spiritual healing and wickens. In actuality, it was a bit creepy. I wasn't in there long when I realized I wasn't going to find anything in there that didn't tell me how to turn a boy into a frog or meditate with a certain form of grass. I quickly walked out of the small store and kept going down the sidewalk.

Outside the store sat a shiny silver Volvo. I hoped it was Edward's, but it couldn't have been, it was sunny. Stupid shiny Volvo owner, raising false hopes in a young girls heart.

I meandered down the street, not really caring where I was going. I was in an awful humor. Besides the fact that I was going to murder Tyler Crowley, Edward hadn't been at school. I longed to see him again, to tell him what I was.

Saturday, I decided silently. Saturday will be the day I tell him, if he shows up. I hoped with my entire being that he wouldn't stand me up, but I couldn't be sure.

I chose to forget about that topic for now, and move onto something. Like finding where I was.

I was standing on the side walk next to a bunch of empty stores. How in the world did I get here? I asked myself.

I started to realize, as I crossed another road, that I was going in the wrong direction. The little foot traffic I had seen earlier was nowhere to be seen now, I was completely alone. I decided to take the next left turn and hoped it would lead me back to the main part of town.

A group of four men stumbled around the corner a few yards ahead of me. They were all severely intoxicated, they laughed raucously at some joke I had not heard. I wasn't frightened of them though, they weren't much older than myself. Just out of college at the most.

"Hey, there!" one called to me as I neared where they stood leaning against another empty store.

"Good evening." I said politely, inclining my head to the one who spoke just a fraction of an inch.

"_Good evening_." two of them mock, as I get ever closer to them.

"How do you do, Miss Hoity-Toity." the last in the mangled line says, bowing to me just as I am about to walk past him.

"Quite well, thank you." I said, forcefully stomping on the foot he has left in front of me as a means to keep me form leaving. Immediately, he pulls it back to him, mumbling slurred curse words. Clearly I've physically hurt him, and emotionally shattered the other men's egos.

"Oops."

"Hey, wait!" the first who spoke says, as I walk away and around the corner.

I found myself on a disserted street, walking past the backs of warehouses with large doors to allow unloading trucks in. The other side has no sidewalk, only a barbed wire fence to protect whatever it is behind it.

It was getting dark, I realized, the clouds finally setting in over the horizon, creating an early sunset. I thanked my spontaneous mutation for once, I was glad for the fact that I had the temperature of a Shifter. With nightfall coming closer by the second, it was getting colder. Much colder. Not even a car passed me as I walked straight down the road.

The sky suddenly darkened fully, it was eerie out there on my own. But I heard something strange maybe twenty or so feet behind me. Two of the men from earlier were following me, just rounding the same corner I had.

I didn't want to have to do what I knew I would. I was having such a streak of good luck, I hadn't on purpose or accidentally shifted in front of a human yet. But if it came down to it, I would. I would do it just to see the scared look on those pansies faces.

I kept walking, I pretended I didn't notice they were behind me. I knew what they were after, and it wasn't my lunch money. I listened to their quiet footsteps, which seemed monumentally softer compared to the boisterous noise they had been making when I saw them last.

Focusing on the next left hand turn in front of me, I tried to calm myself. All the tension from the past few months came crashing down on me. I wanted- no needed- to rip all of their slimy heads off, they deserved!

I sharply turned the corner and almost shifter then and there. The two other men from the group were on both sidewalks, coming toward me with wicked smiles on their faces.

I began to shake uncontrollably. I was trying so hard not to change form, but I wanted to so badly. All four men were coming closer to me as I tried to get a hold on myself.

"There you are!" said the man who's foot I had smashed, he was walking lightly on that side of his body. He seemed to be looking behind me at the other men, but I knew better, it was an ill-played ruse.

"Yea," said a deep voice behind me. I forced myself to move forward, I had been frozen in place with trying not to shift. "We took a little detour."

The man talking lounged against the wall behind him, only a few yards from me. He nodded to the man across the street who came sauntering over, looking directly at me.

The man I had hurt shrugged away form the wall as I got almost close enough to touch him. In a matter of seconds all four were surrounding me, breathing deeply with menacing smiles on their crudely lit faces. One of them reached out to grab me.

With the rapid movement of a cat, I had his arm gripped in my hand. With my nails digging into his flesh I was easily making him bleed, he winced in pain as I brought him to the ground.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I said with venom in my voice. It didn't even sound like me, I had a slight lisp. With an inconspicuous move, I touched my tongue to my K-9 teeth.

Yep, just as I had suspected. My body was shifting whether I wanted to or not. My teeth were becoming more pointed and menacing with every second I waited there. My fingers becoming more claw-like.

The man I had brought to the ground cried out in pain as my sharp claws sliced open his forearm. I wasn't going to be just any cat, I would be a tiger. I let go of the plump man on the ground, but before I did, I snapped both bones in his arm.

"Servers you right, eh?" I blocked out his screaming.

"What are you?" the frightened men asked, unable to move away from me.

"Do you want to run along like the fretful children you are, or do you wish to stick around an witness it for yourself?" I hissed.

They ran away, but not fast enough. My body craved to have their blood, to rip them apart. This is the monster I fear in myself. This is the fuse I don't want anyone to light. I could have easily ripped them to shreds and no one would be the wiser about the four drunk boys that stumbled out of a pub late at night.

"Faster!" I bark. One of them falls as he tries his damnedest to get away from me that instant.

I lean up against the wall, but can't hold myself up, I slide down to slump on the ground. My body is drained of all energy from fighting of the shift, but I still had the urge to run after them and drag them away.

I hadn't noticed, but I was pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to get the scent of fear out of my nose. Just an FYI, but if a large animals is tracking you, don't run; it excites them, heightens the fun in the chase. Just like real animals, I can smell the fear. I could still smell them even though I couldn't see them any longer.

I could feel my body moving back to normal, my hands were all together the same and my teeth were just a bit sharper than usual. My stomach growled loudly, I was starved, and my mouth had gone totally dry.

"Bella?" a sweet, musical, frantic voice came barreling around the corner. No, no, no, no, no.

I want to cry, but it seems my body doesn't have the strength to shed a tear. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way! You weren't supposed to find out like this!" I croaked.

"Shh, Bella, dear." He said, settling down on the ground beside me. He put his arm around me as if it was the most natural thing for him to be doing. Sitting on the ground with a distraught Shape Shifter that almost slaughter four drunken boys. "Now, calm down and tell me what you mean."

I stare up at him in shock. How could he not know, hadn't he just witnessed this whole thing?

"What? Didn't you just see what happened?"

"No, all I saw was those men running away." In his face I can see that something terrible is registering in his mind. "What were they running from, Bella?"

"I - I have to get back to my friends." I stutter. "They are probably worried about me, I was supposed to meet them."

I stand unsteadily and almost fall on my knees. Edward caught me just in time, but didn't let me go, he held me close to him. "What happened?"

"I don't want to tell you." I said softly, I knew he could hear me.

"You promised me."

"Edward," I wail. "You're really putting me between a rock and a hard place here."

"What do you mean?"

"Because I want to tell you, I really do, but I can't! You'll hate e forever and I can't let you go. You keep me from the monster I really am." I was barely whispering by the time I finished speaking.

"Come on," he said, taking my hand in his. "You can tell me later, but now, you need something to eat."

"Thank you."

We walk silently back into town, back to the bookstore to be more correct. He had been parked there, it was him!

"You followed me, didn't you?"

He smiled crookedly at me and said, "I couldn't just let you wander off to the big city of Port Angeles by yourself, now could I?"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I climbed into his car after him, I still couldn't believe he followed me. I was just happy to be with him though. It felt like forever since I had been with him and now I was going to have to tell him about me and I would never see him again.

I wasn't ready for that kind of pain, I wanted to talk about anything other than my disability. That's what I call my being a Shape Shifter; a disability. It pretty much is, I was born with it and I couldn't get rid of it. I hated it more than any other thing in my life. And I was positive Edward would hate me for it, too.

I chose to talk to him, just to get away from my own thoughts. How messed up do you have to be when your only reason for talking to someone is that your mind is annoying you because your talking too much? Pretty dang messed up is the answer to that one.

"So," I began. "Did you follow me with your nose, or something?" I kept staring out the window, not wanting to see how he reacted to this specific question.

"No, not entirely." he said calmly, but when I looked at him, I saw it was only a façade. The skin on the back of his hands was whiter than usual from how hard he was gripping the steering wheel. I noticed I had asked the wrong question, but his answer intrigued me. If not by scent, how did he track me?

"What does 'not entirely' mean?" I asked, finally staring straight into his beautiful onyx eyes.

"I listened to the minds of those around you." he didn't look at me or say anything else, he let that sink in.

I was so confused! How could he listen the minds of the people around me? What was he; a superhero? "So, you're what? You can't be just a vampire, can you? I mean, you can read minds!"

"I knew it! You did know all along what I was! How did you know?"

"I'm not too keen on your subject change mister." I wagged a playful finger at him. "Spill."

He smiled slightly. "Yes, I can read minds. It is rather rare for a vampire to have latent talents once they've turned, but I have one. Other than that though, I'm no different than other Vampires."

"If you can read minds, then why don't you know what I am? I'm sitting here right now, thinking of one thing. And that is what I am. How can you remain ignorant of that fact?" I was terribly confused and wanted so bad to know what was going on. He was the only Vampire I had ever really talked to before and he had supernatural powers straight out of a James Patterson novel.

"I've not been ignorant." he said haughtily. "I've just not found the right answer yet."

"You can't read my mind." It wasn't a question, it was a fact.

"No, and it bothers the hell out of me too. You're so silent and it irks me not to be able to know exactly what you are thinking at every moment you are thinking it."

"Why is that? That you can't read my mind, I mean." I frowned at him.

"Maybe it's what you are." he said simply. We had pulled up to the restaurant Jessica, Angela and I were going to eat at. As I look at the building front, I saw both of them descending the steps. They looked worried and Angela had her cell-phone out, dialing my number no doubt.

Edward came around to my door before I even had time to unbuckle my seatbelt. He opened my door and gentlemanly inclined his hand to help me out.

"Thank you." I said, a bit embarrassed by his old fashioned disposition. "But, I better catch those two before they run off without me."

"Angie, Jess!" I called, they swirled around and ran to me with worried looks on their faces.

"Oh, gosh! Thank God, we found you!" Angela gushed in one breath.

"Where were you? One minute you were going to a bookstore and the next-" She didn't finish the sentence, she caught sight of Edward standing behind me.

"Um…" They both struggled for words.

"Hello, Jessica and Angela." He said sweetly. They mumbled hello's back to him. "I'm sorry I've kept Bella from you, it is entirely my fault. But I was wondering if you might let me dine with you tonight?"

"Sure!" Jessica said all to quickly, the biggest smile on her face I had ever seen. Angela tugged on her jacket sleeve.

"Actually, we already ate while we were waiting for Bella." She smiled apologetically at me.

"Oh, then I must insist that Bella get something to eat, if that's alright with you two?" Sometimes he made me so mad! He was bamboozling both of my friends right in front of me!

"Of course you can!" Jessica gushed, then stared pointedly at me. "We'll see you tomorrow, Bella."

"Bye Bella!" Angela said, ushering Jessica away from the scene. Angela was like my guardian angel when it came to Jessica's nosiness.

"Bye guys!" I called as they walked back to Jessica's car.

I sighed. "You know, you really shouldn't do that to unsuspecting girls." I said to him. I was a bit angry about my friends leaving me with a bat of his long, flowing eyelashes. At the same time though, I was happy that he had gotten them to vamoose so easily.

"Do what?" he asked as we walked into the small restaurant.

"Dazzle people."

"Do I dazzle you?" he asked with a cocky grin.

"Not in the least." I replied smugly, his smile faltered, then vanished.

"Do you hear that? What's that noise?" I asked shakily.

"What? What noise?" he asked, worry thick in his voice. He began looking around, his eyes sweeping over every inch of our surroundings.

"Oh, wait. It's just the sound of your ego deflating." I smiled up at him. He had a smile playing on the edges of his lips, but he tried to hide it.

"You really should be a comedian when you grow up, Bella. You're hilarious." he said grouchily.

"Aw, thanks, Edward. But I don't except flattery as a bribe." We would have said more, but the scantily dressed (slut-like, if I may be so bold) hostess walked up to her podium. She smiled seductively at Edward and I wanted to kick her in her newly re-done nostrils.

"How many, sweetheart?" she asked him, not even glancing my way. Edward took no notice of her overdone cleavage or short skirt, he stared down at me when he answered

'two'. I smiled smugly at her as she showed us to our table.

It was a very small one, in the middle of the crowded dining room. I began to sit down in the uncomfortable looking chair when Edward caught my arm.

"Could we have one in a more private section, please." He smiled widely at her, she didn't stand a chance.

"You're doing it again." I muttered, closer to him so skank-joint-hoe bag couldn't hear me.

**(A.N.- Haha, Twin. I know you'll remember that.)**

His smile widened, but he didn't say anything to me about it.

She walked into another area of the restaurant to a large booth in the back, we seemed to be the only ones in the room.

"How's this, doll?" she said, leaning forward as he sat trying to show off her boobs. I glared at her.

"Fine, thank you." he said, staring at me to see how I felt about it. I nodded in agreement.

"Your server will be out in a minute to get your orders." She said directly to Edward, not even attempting to make it seem like I was in the room.

"Alright, goodbye." I said speedily, she scowled at me with her beady eyes trying to pop out of her too small head. She gave Edward a flirty smile before she left.

"I wonder what _she_ was thinking?" I asked rhetorically and rather grumpily.

"Nothing of importance." Edward said, still smiling at me. He made me blush. "So…"

"So what?"

"What are you?"

I let out my breath in a big gust of air. In a way to calm myself, I put my fingers to my temples and began to massage in smooth circular motions. "How about we finish our conversation from the car, about you're ability, then we'll get to my curse."

"Curse?" His eyes bored into mine, he really wanted to know. I almost gave in and told him then and there, but I couldn't do that. I couldn't ruin it now.

"Later," I pleaded.

"Okay, but later means today." he said sternly.

"I know." I nodded. "So, go on with your stuff."

"My stuff? Well, you know I'm a vampire. You know I can read minds. And I'm guessing you know that my family are Vampires too?" he waited for me to acknowledge his question, I nodded. "What else is there to know."

"Why are your eyes golden or black instead of crimson?" That had bugged me since the first day I noticed it.

"Oh, right, that. We don't feed off of humans; strictly animals for us. That's what changes our eyes. We call ourselves 'vegetarians'." he laughed at his little joke.

"So, how did you're father come across you all?"

"Carlisle? He was a doctor in Chicago in 1918 when I was 17. I was dying of the Spanish Influenza and so was my mother, it was her last dying wish that I be saved no matter what."

"He changed you?"

He nodded. "Esme was next, she was about to die also. Carlisle changed her and they've been together since. Next was Rosalie, she had been beaten by a group of men and left on the street to die, Carlisle changed her in hopes that I would love her as he did Esme." He smiled ruefully thinking about the memory as if he couldn't fathom why his father would think that. I couldn't either.

"Rosalie found Emmett, he had been mauled by a bear and almost died. She carried him back to our home and asked Carlisle to change him for her."

I counted on my fingers; one, two, three, four, five. Two were missing. Hadn't Jacob said something about there being two more?

"After Emmett, is that when you came to Forks first?" he looked confused.

"Yes, how did you know that?"

"I have a certain friend who lives on the reservation and told me an old story about your family and his tribe. I remembered him saying something about there being another male and female since his grandfather made the treaty with your family."

"Your friend has broken the treaty then." he said, his eyes piercing.

"He only told me because I'm a-" I was cut off by the waitress. I was about to tell him what I was. No, I couldn't.

"Hi, mines name's Leann, I'll be your server tonight." She smiled flirtatiously at Edward. "What would you like to drink?" Just like the hostess before her, she ignored me and asked Edward only. She was less trashy than the one before, but still dressed like a hooker.

"Bella?" he asked staring across the booth at me.

"Un-sweet tea."

"Two un-sweet teas"

"Are you ready to order your food?" she asked, looking at out untouched menus.

"Nothing for me, Bella?" Of course he wasn't eating. I wondered idly what would happen if he did eat human food.

"I'm not hungry either." I said, but Edward gave me the death stare, so I picked the first thing off the menu. "Chicken parmesan, please."

"That's all, thank you." Edward said curtly.

"Alright." she said, her face a bit saddened by Edward's obvious lack of interest in her.

"So, you were saying?" I didn't answer. "You're what?"

"I was about to say… I'm a friend of his and was just asking about the legends." I explained in a rush.

"Bella…" I knew what he was going to say; I should tell him, he deserved to know, blah blah blah. I couldn't do that. I sat there for a second, basking in his scent, it surrounded me in the lonely room.

The lights were dim, but they hit his skin perfectly, making him glow slightly. The whole place smelt like flowers with a hint of Italian food, it smelt delicious.

_If this had been a date, it would be very romantic. _I briefly thought to myself. _What? Bella! Don't do that! Don't put yourself in that position of getting your heart broken because your expectations were too high._ I scolded myself. I couldn't let this happen; be left broken and unloved by a vampire?

But he wasn't just a vampire, he was a hero. My hero. I felt like I was wearing my heart on my sleeves, but it was true. Edward had saved me from myself. Before I met him, I had thought I wasn't even deserving enough to be in love. Even though once he found out what I was he would leave, he still would have made me realize I didn't have to be alone.

"So, tell me more about yourself."

"Didn't I already tell you?" he asked with a frown. Such an eager beaver, he was way too ready to find out what my story was.

"No," I said defensively. "You didn't finish, what about Alice and Jasper?"

"They were turned by other vampires. Jasper fought in the war and was turned then to make a sort of army. He has a complicated story, but Alice's is much more. She doesn't know who turned her and she doesn't remember anything from her human life." He paused. I was interested now, he had to finish.

"How did she find Jasper?" I guessed that they didn't come from separate ways before they went to Esme and Carlisle, they were too close now.

"Alice has a talent too, different from mine though. She can see the future, she saw Jasper coming and they found Carlisle together." Her power reminded me of what my dreams were telling me. Did I have this power that Alice had or was I just insane. Although, it was a bit disconcerting that there actually was a meadow from my dream that Edward knew about too.

"How does that work; the future thing?" I breathed, I hadn't even noticed I'd spoke.

"The future comes to her in visions. Sometimes spontaneous and sometimes she goes looking for it."

This was amazing, he could read minds and his sister could freakin' see the future! What other powers did this once hated family possess. "Does the rest of your family have cool powers too?"

"Cool," he scoffed, repeating my wording. I glared at him, prompting him to finish. "Yes, but not like mine or Alice's. Jasper can sense and change emotions. Rosalie brought her determination, or I guess you could call it conceitedness." he laughed. "Emmett brought his strength, Carlisle his ability to heal. And Esme brought her compassion and understanding.

"Now that we're all caught up on me, what about you?" He said, leaning forward to stare closer into my eyes.

'Sway' by Michael Bublé was playing on the loud speaker, I tried to concentrate on the music, but Edward wouldn't let me. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I couldn't assemble my thoughts, Edward was swimming around in my head. I heard his steady breathing over the music and decided it was a pipe dream to think about anything other than him when near him.

"After the food comes." I said sullenly. As if on cue, the waitress came out, carrying a tray with one plate and two glasses on it. Damn. Edward smirked at me as she came closer to us.

She tried her best to temp Edward as she placed the food on our table. "Tell me if you need anything." she directed at Edward. "_Anything_." And she walked away, shaking her hips like a street walker trying to seduce an inebriated bull.

"So…" he began. Damn. Damn. Damn.

"Fine, Edward." I took a deep breath. Here it goes. Down hill from now on.

I took another deep breath; one, two, three, four. I was counting the ticking of the clock on the wall behind me.

"Edward." I stopped.

"Yes?" he scooted ever closer to me.

"I'm a…


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I took yet another deep breath. Brought my knees to my chest on the little bench and wrapped my arms around them.

It's now or never, Bella. I told myself. Either you do it now, or you leave. Immediately. If you can't do this now, you never will be able to and you will lose him on your own account. You will have no one else to blame for it, but yourself if you don't talk to him now.

I stared at my hands, which were in immense pain because of how tight I was squeezing them. I closed my eyes tight shut and went for it.

"Edward, I'm a Shape Shifter." I said faster than I had meant to in the first place, but he's a Vampire, he would hear me.

Though, I did wonder for a second because he didn't say anything. My eyes were still closed, so I couldn't see him to know if he was even still there. I strained to hear his breathing, I heard nothing.

I opened my eyes thinking that he had, in fact, left me there. But he was sitting in the same expectant position I had left him in. He hadn't moved a muscle, he just stared like he was frozen in time. It was as if he was a beautiful statue that has a sign on it 'Do Not Touch'. I wasn't able to go near him because I was afraid. What would he do, say?

He finally looked at me, his eyes were sad.

"I had suspected, this whole time, that you were something I wouldn't really like. I've never liked anything of your kind, but I cant' not like you, Bella." His voice had an odd tone, sort of sad and happy at the same time.

"So, you're in like with me?" I asked jokingly, trying to lighten the mood far from my drab one. In any second, he would realized that I was a monster to be feared and yell 'Someone find the pitchforks!' It would all fall apart soon, and I knew it.

He laughed infinitesimally, I wasn't even sure it was a laugh. He looked into my eyes. "How long have you known about me?"

"When I first saw your family at school. It was simple, my mind is trained to pick out your kind. That was part of their need for me. I found the weak ones." I was more thinking out loud than really speaking to him, but he needed to know that too.

"What do you mean? Who are 'they'?" He was confused and a little scared.

I put my head in my hands and knew I was on the verge of tears. He would surely run at this news. Why was I so stupid? Why would he need to know this? Oh, right. So he could save himself from me.

He took my wrists in his hands and pulled them away from my face. Tears were steadily streaming down my cheeks, but he looked at me lovingly. His scent filled my nosed and sent sparks all the way down to my toes.

"No!" I said as I pulled away from him and inched as far as I could on the booth. "I'm a monster! Can't you see?"

I was full on crying and didn't care now.

"Bella, you are not a monster. At least not as much as me."

"Oh, really? How could that possibly be true? I'm one of the things that make children afraid of the dark or scared to go in the woods on a full moon! I'm the farthest thing form human." I almost screamed at him.

"No you are not." he said each word slowly. "I am."

"HA!" I scoffed at him, he was shading his eyes from my true being. "You, at least, used to be human, I never will be. I've been this way my whole life, you were born human. You had a real life, a real family that you could tell things to. My only family was a pack of dumbass wolves that only used me because I'm a first! I'm a purebred, full on Shifter. I'm something to be collected, not loved or anything near that.

"My parents aren't Shifters, and I wasn't bitten. So, how could I be a Shifter? I'm an innovation, like the first of my kind hundreds of years ago. From what I know, there hasn't been a spontaneous mutation like mine since then. And the worst part is, I'll never die! I'm supposed to be here forever to create more like me. This is the worst thing that could have happened and I apologize to my mom every day for having a wretched being like me as a child. I moved in with Charlie because of it." I finally stopped speaking, I couldn't anymore. My sobs were too strong, they took over.

I heard Edward get up, but I thought he was leaving me; I cried harder. Instead, he came and sat down beside me, he wrapped his arms tightly around me like he could hold the pieces that were left of me together.

I took his scent in, it was so nice. "You smell so good, it makes me feel better. Almost." I felt his chest rise and fall as he laughed.

"I'm supposed to smell disgusting to you, aren't I?"

"Yes, and I've asked myself why you do smell so good pretty much every time I've seen you. It baffles me, your family smells like they are supposed to, but you are different."

"It's the same with me, you don't smell like a shifter and you smell better than a human."

"We are just two anomalies in this crazy world."

Someone coughed to make their presence known. I didn't have to look up to know it was the sluty waitress. I kept my face buried in Edward's chest as I said, "Check, please."

"You didn't even touch your food." Edward said.

I quickly took one bite. "That's not true."

Our waitress wasn't very pleased when she came back with the check, Edward paid in cash so we could leave faster.

"You have a nice night." the hostess said invitingly as we walked out, Edward didn't even look at her when her thanked her.

Edward led me out to his car and opened the passenger door for me and closed it softly once I was in. He walked gracefully and quickly around to the driver side.

Once he was in the car, he started the engine and turned the heater on high. It was cold that night, but not to me. I, after all, was a Shifter and didn't get very cold.

"There's no need for that." I said, turning it down.

"Oh, sorry; forgot."

I didn't know what to say. I just sat there as he pulled out into the traffic.

"You didn't answer one of my questions. You said something about you finding the weak ones and that was why 'they' needed you."

"Right… that." How to phrase the sentence where you tell someone that you've killed Vampires since you were thirteen? "Well, 'they' are the pack that I used to sort of belong to. And I meant that I… helped hunt Vampires. But, I never liked doing that. Usually, they stayed out of our town because of how big of a group we had there, but my pack made me and I was too afraid of being alone to disobey their orders. And it turns out, that having a good sense of smell and intuition was the only reason they kept me around." I was still bumbed about that.

"You used to hunt us?" He didn't look at me, just stared out the windshield at the road.

"I'm not proud of it. I've told you before that I don't like what I am and I don't like what I had to do. It's not exactly the happiest moment in my life an I'm glad to be rid of it."

"And the _weak ones_?"

"They had me watch them; see which was the newest or slowest or most vulnerable." I paused. I didn't like this situation, not one bit. "I separated that one from their coven as inconspicuously as was possible and the pack came in to finish the job."

"You didn't have a part in actually killing them?"

"No, I wouldn't. I refused to. I'll fight who I have to, but I won't kill; it goes against every moral I have, everything that I was raised on. I might be this monster that is a threat to all of humanity, but I won't succumb to it. I could never live with myself if I killed any person, whether it be vampire or not."

"So much alike." he mumbled to himself. He looked less angry now, but I couldn't be for sure. "You said having your abilities was the only reason they kept you around like they had let you go?"

"It sure does seem like that. I haven't had word from them since I've been here. It's like they've deserted me at the worst point in my life they possibly could have!"

"Why is it the worst?"

"I'm a teenager, Edward. It's supposed to be all parties and boys and peer pressure, not whether to eat the mountain lion or the deer for dinner tonight. You see movies about our age group and they're always like, 'What will I do if I don't get a date for prom?', I'll never have that."

"I understand, I'll never have the life my parents dreamed for me either."

"And you're what? 108 years old? How do you deal with it?"

"It's hard sometimes, I'm still getting used to the 'afterlife'. I got a whole new family, new immortal life, a new species! I had to start all over; move, leave my family, friends and future aspirations. I wanted to go to war, wanted to fall in love, start a family." he paused many times, it was like he had never talked to anyone outside of his coven about this.

"Are you saying that since you're a vampire now, you're incapable of love?" My chest felt like it had been ripped in two, I had found someone to love and he didn't, or couldn't, love me back.

"Not incapable, but undeserving."

"Why do you think that?" It was preposterous. If anyone was undeserving of love it was me! I had a hand in killing hundreds upon hundreds of vampires and ruined my family's lives.

"I've not always lived a 'vegetarian' life style. I used to think that it was okay to kill if they had done something wrong, broken a major law, killed someone."

"So you did bad to prevent bad from happening?" That didn't sound too terrible.

"In some ways, but I still murdered people. Many people actually."

"Its not like you killed the innocent, it could be much worse Edward. You could have done what I did."

"You never actually killed them." he said simply, like it made all the difference.

"No, but I hunted them, trapped them, bamboozled them. Whatever you want to call it, but I had the upper hand and used it against them. I was the reason why all of them are dead."

"They were killers, they could have gone on killing the innocent." he was trying to piece together a flimsy argument to say that I wasn't just as bad as him, if not worse.

"Isn't that the same as you?"

"My victims were human." He was trying to hide his sorrow.

"You did what you had to. I don't punish people for that, if you hadn't done something, you wouldn't be here with me. I wouldn't have a friend in the world right now."

"You have many admirers in Forks." he reminded me.

"Admirers and friends are on different sides of the spectrum. I will never be able to tell them what I am, never be able to talk freely about what I've done. That's why I decided not to leave because I need you."

He furrowed his brows. "Why would you leave?"

"I was afraid to stay, afraid I would ruin the ruse I had built. It's your scent, really. I told you that you smelt nice, but I didn't go into details. You smell amazing; amazingly delicious. I almost couldn't control myself the first day I was near enough to smell you. I was pretty close to snatching you in the hallway and killing you then. You've no idea how horrible I felt about myself and how perplexed I was about this whole situation. I'm still worried that I'll slip up and won't be able to control this inhuman urge to feed. I could easily be the monster I fear and lose everything. I could kill, with the slightest flick of my finger." I stared out the window, unable to keep talking about the phobias I had.

"So, what happened tonight?" he asked.

"You bought me dinner." I said dumbly.

"I mean before that, with the men." he clarified. It seemed like days ago that I had that encounter with the group of men.

"Oh, right. Where to start? Well, after Jessica and Angela finished shopping for their dresses we still had some extra time before our we wanted to eat so they went for a walk on the bay. I stayed behind, said I'd meet them at the restaurant, and went looking for that bookstore. Which I didn't even go very far in because it looked so crappy. Stores like that really piss me off, I mean if you want to call yourself a bookstore, at least sell other books besides ones about Wiccans and Spiritual Awareness-" he cut me off.

"Um, Bella? Getting a little off task, aren't we?"

"Sorry, but that's like my biggest pet peeve." I smiled meekly at him, he accepted my apology so I went on with my story prior to my rant. "Well, since I didn't find anything in that bookstore, I thought I might find another, so I kept walking. I was sort of daydreaming as I walked and wasn't watching where I was going. Of course, I got lost rather quickly, all the buildings around me were empty.

"I still kept going forward because I would get even more lost if I turned around. I made a few turns and came across a pub. As I approached, these four drunken men came stumbling out. They hit on me and I politely declined them."

"Politely, you say?" he asked skeptically. He knew me too well already.

"Okay, maybe I was rude and stomped on one of their feet."

"Thought so, keep going."

"After I stepped on him, I walked away and they didn't follow, or so I thought. I turned a corner and then two of them came walking behind me. They stayed maybe twenty or so feet away, so I didn't do anything, I didn't even look at them.

"I made a few more turns and there the other two were, on either side of the road; waiting. They came closer to me and so did the ones behind me. It felt more like they were herding me than following or stalking me. I decided to play it cool, but when I got in the middle of their little circle, they closed in, I was surrounded." I stopped, I could see everything that had happened in clear view, like a movie being played over and over in my head.

"Then what?" Edward prompted.

"Then one of them tried to grab me. I couldn't help but start to shift, and I tried my darnedest not to, I swear, but I grabbed the guy trying to touch me and brought him to the ground. My claws were starting to form already and he was bleeding and whimpering at my feet. I felt such a rush from it though, it makes me sick to my stomach. I broke his arm cleanly and let him fall to the ground, screaming." The movie wasn't just playing in my head, it was real life, it was happening again. But I wasn't seeing it from my point of view, I was an unspoken third party, I was a bystander. It made me think of what could happen to me if someone actually was there. Would I be found out?

"Bella?" Edward's voice was in the back of my mind, clouded from what I was seeing in my head, but it brought me out of the trance. Finish the story and it will stop, Bella.

"I told the men to leave and they ran from me. It was like every nightmare I had ever had; they ran as fast as they could and yet not fast enough. And it was all to get away form the monster that had almost killed all of them and left one of their friends broken and bleeding on the pavement, me." It had finally sunk in, I was my own night terror. I was everyone's.

"They were attacking you, what could you have done?"

"I could have handled it better, that's what I could have done. If you could read minds, why didn't you see me in their thoughts?"

"It didn't look like you, they were hysteric and drunk. When I saw you sitting on the ground, I thought the worst and figured that animal had done something to you. I was more afraid than I had been in the last ninety years."

"Well, I'm glad someone cares."

We were pulling up to my house and I had to say goodbye. I didn't want to, didn't want to forget his scent.

"Will you be at school tomorrow?" I asked hopefully.

"Alice says it will be overcast tomorrow, so yes I will."

"Good." I said as I began unbuckling my seatbelt.

"Oh, and Bella?"

"Yes?" I said, looking up. His face was inches from mine, I could smell the breath he was exhaling and was getting lightheaded.

He leaned in ever so slightly, but I gladly met him in the middle. His lips were cold and hard, but inviting. He kissed me very lightly, then pulled away.

"Sweet dreams, Bella."

I stumbled unsteadily out of his car and into my house.

"How was the shopping, Bells?" Charlie called as I started to walk up the stairs.

"Um, what?"

"The shopping, how did it go?"

"Oh, right, uh, they both got really pretty dresses. They're both really excited. I'm tired, I'm going to bed."

"Alright, night."

"Night, Dad."

I plopped down on my bed as soon as I entered my room. I couldn't believe it, Edward Cullen had kissed me. I was elated.


	15. Not the new chapter

To all my readers I have to say that I'm so so so so so sorry. I don't understand why it has taken me so long to stop my procrastination habits, but they will stop and soon. First it was summer, then 4h, then disney world, then band camp and now school. Even with that, it is no excuse because I know how mad I get when stories randomly cut off and it takes two months for the next chapter update. I know, I'm a jerk. But I'm now writing as much as I can everyday and will update as soon as I can to make up for my absence. I hope you like what I'm writing now, my style has changed a bit since the last time I wrote, hope it's not too noticeable or disliked. J thanks all


	16. Chapter 15 sorry it's so short :

Chapter 15

I couldn't sit still, I was too happy and excited. I immediately jumped off my bed and jammed my IPod into my IHome. I listened to The Wombats because they were an up-beat indie band that totally rocked.

I jumped up and down and sang along to all the songs, not caring about waking Charlie. I mean seriously, once you heard his chainsaw-like snores, you knew he was out and nothing could wake him but his pager or his alarm.

My absolute all-time favorite song came on and I squealed in delight. I sang pretty much at the top of my lungs and didn't have a care in the world.

"_Let's to Joy Division, _

_And celebrate the irony,_

_Everything is going wrong,_

_But we're so happy._

_Yea, we're so happy._

_So happy, yea, we're so happy._

_So happy, yea, we're so happy."_

When the song ended, I heard a small chuckle coming from behind me in the vicinity of my window. I gasped in surprise and spun around on my heels to face Edward. He was casually perched on my window sill and was smiling crookedly at me. How sexy…

"Happy, are we?" he asked.

I stuck out my tongue and said, "Stalker much?" He laughed and then his eyes traveled down my body. During my dancing I had been changing for bed, but I had only made it half way. I was now standing in the middle of my bedroom, clad except in Soffe shorts and a lacey deep blue bra.

I blushed with immediate chagrin and grabbed the T-Shirt I had lying on my bed. Edward looked me up and down and finally landed on my eyes. Reluctantly though, he could hardly tear them away from my legs. "Nice," He said with a smirk.

I huffed with exaggerated exasperation. "You Peeping Toms' are never satisfied."

"I wasn't peeping." he said defensively.

"Oh, really?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "Then, what do you call sitting outside someone's bedroom window and watching them change?"

"I call it, saying hello."

I laughed despite the current situation, I couldn't help myself.

"Besides, you weren't doing much changing from what I saw."

"Edward Cullen! You will not watch me change without my knowledge again." I scolded sternly.

"Oops, sorry." he said, smirking.

"I'm going to go brush my teeth." I said, turning on my heel and walking out of my room.

"I'll make myself comfortable." he called after me, taking a seat on the foot of my bed.

When I got into the tiny bathroom I had to sit on the edge of the bath tub and take a few good deep breaths. I could barely wrap my head around that fact that Edward had kissed me and now he was sitting on my bed in the middle of the night.

I walked shakily over to the sink and feverishly brushed my teeth, twice, then flossed. How embarrassing would it be if he found something in my teeth. I had a blush just thinking about the mortification.

I checked my hair in the mirror for about the twentieth time and finally walked out of the bathroom and into my room. Edward was no longer sitting on my bed, but was looking through the numerous books on my shelves.

"You have an interesting collection." he said, still looking at the spines.

"I read anything and everything I can get my hands on." I told him.

"I can see that." he mused and started naming off titles. "Mystic River."

"Superb book, wonderfully written and intriguing." He laughed and kept going down the line.

"Cold Mountain."

"Oh, lord, I cried my eyes out."

"Practical Magic."

"Wunderbar!" I said.

"The World According to Garp."

"Poor Michael Milton." he barked out in laughter, but kept going. He read off a few more titles and came to rest at one in the middle of the bookcase.

"Dracula?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"What? It's a cult classic that revolutionized the idea of the Vampire."

"Yes, but all of that is myth and lie."

"Would you rather they tell the truth? Have the Vampires _sparkle_?" The sarcasm was dripping off my words with malice and I was ashamed. I had hurt his feelings because he criticized my book collection. "I have other books and movies with stupid ideas of Shape Shifters too, you know." I motioned to the section at the bottom of the book shelf. "You see, 'Blood and Chocolate' by Annette Curtis Klause, 'Broken' by Kelley Armstrong, 'Derik's Bane' by MaryJanice Davidson."

I walked over to the shelf with my movies. "Hmm, let me see." I said, searching the shelf for the more famous Werewolf movies. "'An American Werewolf In London', just guess what that one's about. 'Teen Wolf', 'Silver Bullet', 'Wolf' always good to have Jack Nicholson as a Were, eh?" I came to rest in front of my bed, staring up at the old movie poster hanging above it. It showed the face of what humans believe Werewolves to like; humanoid, but with hair all over their face and giant K-9 teeth. Under the face it had a beautiful blond woman draped over something as if she were dead, with bright colors all around. "'The Wolf Man', one of the most famous, and, if I may say so, cheesiest Were movies. Once I told someone I was named after Béla Lugosi, one of the wolves in the movie, but they didn't get it 'cause he died about twenty years before they were born."

"Do you know much about his acting career?" I knew what he was angling for.

"Yes, I know that was Dracula on Broadway in 1927. I may be a Shifter, but I'm not a dolt." I told him.

"I didn't mean it that way, Bella." I said nothing. "Okay, maybe I did, but…" he trailed off.

"It's okay, I suppose."

"Good," he said, as a smug look pranced across his face.

"_But_"

"There's a but?"

"Of course, there's always a but." I took a seat on the bench in front of my bed. "For me to forgive you for being so rude, you're going to have to do something for me."

"And what would that be?" I could see it in his face that he was skeptical.

"I'll leave that up to you."

"Hmm…" he paced playfully in front of me before the cockiest smiled stretched across his lips.

Edward walked toward me slowly and placed his hands on either side of my face. Gently, he pulled me to my feet and I willingly complied. His sweet lips were mere inches from mine. I could smell his intoxicating breathe as he exhaled onto my face. My heartbeat stuttered and sped up, my breath became shallow and ragged.

Edward pulled my face to his and pressed his marble lips softly against my fiery ones. At first the kiss was simple and sweet, but it quickly became more passionate. I knotted my fingers through his messy bronze locks and his were roaming over my back.

He feebly pulled away and stared into my eyes. He wasn't the only one breathless. "How was that?"

"It was, uh… I, uh…" I was at a loss for words to say the least. "You're forgiven."

"Glad to hear it." he said as he caressed my cheek.

"Edward," I began.

"Yea," he said absently twirling my hair between his fingers.

"Remember that small black cat you saw in my room and in the meadow over the weekend?"

"Yes," he answered, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Well, here she is." I said softly. "Meow?"

"Figures." he rolled his eyes. "It smelled so much like you, I should have known."

"I didn't think you would be outside my window, I usually run around during the full moon, no sense being locked up in here."

"Can you only shift during the full moon?"

"No, some can only shift on the full moon, but not me. Like I said earlier, I'm a purebred." I'd never explained this to someone, it was difficult. "Purebred's are different than all other types of shifter's, like, I can change into anything I want. A cat, a wolf, a tiger, a bird, whatever. Other's can only shift into whatever they're parents were. The wolves in La Push are a great example of that, they are all Were's because whoever their trait came from was a wolf. Since I'm a first, I don't have the dominant gene, therefore, I can be anything. Same goes for the when question, I'm a first so the moon doesn't really dictate when I shift, although I absolutely have to on the full moon. I usually don't shift if I can help it though."

"Why is that?" he took a seat on my bed and sat next to him.

"I have no desire to be this. I'm positive I would be happier if I weren't a shifter, if I knew nothing of this world that houses all the supernatural beings. It isn't fair. It's like I'm being punished for being born at all!" I'd never expressed those feelings to anyone before, my old pack wouldn't have understood and family were humans. It was a strange sensation not being so locked in my own mind.

"Do you know why this happened?"

"Not a clue." I said begrudgingly. I leaned back on my messy unmade bed and looked at my pigsty of a room. What a wonderful first time for Edward to see my room, but he didn't seem to notice. He laid the books and magazines that had been laying on my bed on the nightstand and laid down next to me.

"I want to know more about you." he said.

"I don't like talking about being a shape shifter."

"No, not about that, just you."

"Like what?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Purple."

"Why is that?"

"When the sun sets it's the last color you see before it's totally dark, it's the last part of the day."

"Favorite band?"

"That ones hard, I listen to almost everything, but, today, it's probably Psychostick."

"Please tell me that's a joke."

"You're so mean. I happen to think they're good."

"Their music makes no sense, verbally or melodically."

"That's the point, Edward. Music, to them, isn't to make money or be famous, it's about enjoying music. That's probably why I like them so much."

"Alright. Favorite book?"

"Don't have one, there's too many, I change my mind every time I read a new one."

"What about author?"

"Same answer, different question."

We just talked like that all night, debating movies and tv and anything we could think. It was late when I finally fell asleep, but it was in his arms, so it was perfect.


	17. Chapter 16

**So first off, I'm really sorry that it has taken me this long to update and I feel like a dirty word that I don't think I should type on here. And second, you all should thing 42santababy42 for threatening me to make me update sooner. She's been e-mailing me at school and she finally kicked my lazy bum! Go her! And third, I hope you enjoy, it! **

**Chapter 16**

I woke up freezing the next morning, I was so cold it was almost like a burning sensation. As I looked for the source of the drastic change in the climate, my eyes fell upon Edward who was lying next to me, staring at me with gorgeous liquid brown eyes, his clothes were changed.

"You left." I pouted so uncharacteristically that it scared me. I sat up in my bed so I could look down on him.

"Well, you wouldn't want me to show up to our tiny little school with me wearing the same clothing as yesterday. Could you imagine the scandal that would stir up in _this _town?" He smirked at me as he sat up.

We were sitting knee to knee on my tiny bed and Edward kept inching forward. There were wonderful butterflies fluttering around in my stomach and I couldn't hold back my smile. Just as Edward leaned in for kiss my effing alarm went off and I nearly fell right off my bed. I groaned and turned to look that the damn clock and smack the button to turn it off. Why must I have such horrid timing? Why?

"I suppose I should get in the shower." I grumbled as I reluctantly got off my bed wear Edward was still perched.

"I suppose." He sighed, a smile playing on his marble lips.

I did fast work in the bathroom, taking a quick shower, barely putting on any makeup and doing the least to my hair that I possibly could to still make it look decent. I looked at myself in the mirror, still wrapped in my towel because I forgot to grab any sort of clothing before going to the small closet sized room we call our bathroom.

I walked swiftly, but cautiously back into my bedroom, trying to keep from showing Edward all my goods. I did get some satisfaction from his expression, though, as I walked into the room. I thought his eyes were going pop out of his head as he took in my bare legs and small towel.

"What are you looking at?" I said jokingly as I crossed the room to my chest of drawers.

"You." he said simply and for the second time that morning I almost fell. As I slid open one of the drawers and the clean clothes scent hit me, I realized Edward's aroma was all over my room and all over me, even after taking a shower and this made me extremely happy.

"Oh were you?" I said quietly not really paying attention anymore, only hoping to find something almost adequate to wear to school in the top drawers so I wouldn't have to bend down too far if you catch my drift.

"Mhm." He sounded really close to me now and I could feel the chill creeping up my still mildly damp legs. As I looked up from my drawer to look in the mirror, Edward was standing right behind me, staring. Not at my body either, but into my eyes, which was amazingly refreshing.

Edward wrapped his arms around my shoulders, still looking into my eyes. He kissed my neck and smirked as it sent chills down my spine, in a good way. He moved his kissing up to the soft spot behind my ear and I swear I almost dropped the towel and jumped him then and there. The bad part is, I think he knew it.

"I-I-I need to-" He kissed my jaw. "to, uh, get" he started kissing up my jaw, then back down to my neck.

"To get what?" he said into my skin. I couldn't remember.

"To get dressed. Yes, that's what I need." I grabbed random things out of my drawers and ran to the bathroom. Oh, what he did to my mind!

I walked back into my room and Edward was lounging on my bed, reading the new James Patterson novel. He looked up at me and had that glint in his eye of a little boy that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar before dinner.

"Come on, it's time for school." I said indignantly, it was so unfair that he had that affect on me. **(A.N. if you're going to leave a comment will you please tell me if I used affect right, because I still don't know whether to use effect or affect and it's going to bug me ****L so if you wouldn't mind please please please correct my grammar for me! Thanks) **

I got to the front door, had my jacket on, my purse over my shoulder and my books in my hands and he was just now descending the stairs. I couldn't believe it. He was in my house, touching my walls, lying on my bed, looking at my pictures. I liked it.

"Oh, come one, Edward." I rolled my eyes at him. "If you keep going at this pace we won't get to school before fourth hour."

The next movement he made was so fast that if I hadn't been watching him, I wouldn't have seen it. Meer moments after I said those two sentences he was standing in front of me with a big grin on his face.

"Was that fast enough?" He smiled.

"No." I said as I spun on my heal and headed out the door, Edward trailing behind me. I was heading to my car and was just a few feet from it when Edward steered me in the other direction.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you drive me to school?" He opened the door to his silver Volvo for me and closed it once I was in the car. Before I even had my seatbelt latched, he was in the car, with his foot on the brake, and was looking over his shoulder to pull out of my drive way; all the while he was smirking.

"Fine, since you asked me so much yesterday, today is my day." I declared.

"Didn't we already go over my past yesterday?"

"I didn't say anything about past." I said flatly. "I want to know about you know, about your present."

I could tell by his strange facial expression that he'd never thought of us actually discussing his, for lack of a better word, human characteristics. "Like what?"

"Like, what's your favorite color?" Such a plan question, right? Most people would just blurt out a random color, not Edward.

"Blue." he said thoughtfully.

"Why?"

"You wore blue on the first day of school. Before I knew anything about you, before I really even saw you with my own eyes, I remember that bright blue blouse you were wearing. It was ravishing."

I was full on blushing. "What's your favorite book? Or, in my case, books."

"I remember reading a lot before I was changed and I always liked H.G. Wells' novels." I was flabbergasted to say the least.

"I love him! I have _The Invisible Man _in my back seat! So you're into Science Fiction? You know, I never would have pictured you as a Sci-Fi nerd. Anyway, what about music?"

"Classical."

"Right, Debussy, I remember."

By this time we were pulling in to the parking lot and I thanked the Lord in Heaven that his windows were tinted this heavily. I already knew people were going to stare when I got out of Edward Cullen's car. I breathed deeply and as soon as he was parked, my seatbelt was off and I was out the door. And as expected, everyone stared as he walked around to me and kissed me on the cheek before walking me to first period.

Just as we got to the front door, Jessica ran up to me in near hysterics.

"So, what happened last -" she stopped mid-sentence as she caught sight of Edward, who had his arm casually draped around my waist. Her mouth hung open dumbly as she looked back an forth from me to Edward and back. "I'll talk to you in Bio." she said pointedly and turned to go to her class.

"Uhg." I groaned. "What am I supposed to tell her?!" He shrugged his shoulders at me. "Okay, Edward now is not the time to stop being loquacious. Can't you like eaves drop on her mind for a teensy second just too see what I need to tell her?"

He started to say no, but I gave him my big brown puppy dog eyes that I've used on every man in my life from my step dad to my real dad and then on my grand dad. It always worked. "Fine." he huffed.

"Thank you." I smiled at him.

"Well, basically, she wants to know what happened after she and Angela left and if we are _together_."

"And what should I say to that?"

"Whatever you want to say."

I gave him one those I'm-not-going-to-be-the-first-to-make-this-move-so-you-better-do-it-before-I-hit-you kind of looks.

"Okay, you can tell her what ever you want to the first question and I guess you can say yes to the second." he said awkwardly, then kissed me on the forehead and walked away while I was left dumbstruck on the sidewalk by my first hour.

I tried to think of a suitable story to everyone as I made my way into the class room. You know toward the end of _Mean Girls _when Kady walks into the gym and everyone immediately stops talking? Well, that happened to me as soon as I stepped into Mrs. Simms room. Even she and another teacher stopped talking and all eyes were on me. I had never felt that kind of pressure not to trip in my entire life. My heart was beating out of my chest as I walked slower than normal and I felt good as I was almost to my seat, until I tripped over my own feet and had to catch myself on the desk. I heard snickers throughout the room as I finally got seated.

I got my story straight and told Angela that Edward bought me dinner and then took me to a decent bookstore and we just talked for the rest of the night. When she asked if we were dating, I swear the whole class turned to face me.

"Well, yea. I think we are." I said softly, but enough people heard me and gasped.

"What do you mean 'you think'?" Angela asked.

"Well, I mean yes. We are dating." I said frankly and loud enough for the people that hadn't already heard to hear me this time.

When the bell rang, Angie hugged me goodbye and said she pray for me when the mob heard about me and Edward. Tyler Crowley was already at the door and by the look on his face, he'd heard. Jeeze, news traveled fast in this tiny place.

"Hey, Tyler!" I tried to sound peppy.

"Hi." he said softly and I groaned inwardly. "So, you and Cullen, huh?"

"Yea, we're together."

"K. Just thought I'd check the rumor. You know, I have to go ask Ms. Carter about something, I'll see you later, Bella." he said as he sped up to talk to the teacher at the end of the hall.

"Looks like you broke his heart." Edward said in my ear as he walked up behind me.

"You are such a jerk, you could have saved me from that, you know?"

"I know, but he did think you were his girlfriend and that delusion did need to be ended. Can't have someone else on my territory."

"You sound that a human boy." I said to him wrathfully. He smiled. "It's not a good thing." And with that I stomped off to German, leaving him in the wake.

Everyone already knew by the time I took my seat, but people still asked. It wasn't quite as annoying as first hour simply because people didn't ogle as much, but it was just about there.

Ben was standing at the door as I walked out of the class with a big grin on his face. "You and Cullen?" I nodded. "Go Bells!" he raised his hand and gave me a high five. "We should double sometime, you and Edward, me and Ang!"

Finally a good spirited person in this school! Calculus went by fast, just like any other one of those classes, the teacher taught us something new, I didn't understand it, Ben explained it to me about fifteen more times before the bell rang and I still didn't understand it, but other than that it was a good class.

Ben was still trying to explaining antiderivatives to me when we entered the lunch room. If I hadn't been talking it probably would have freaked me out that more that half the lunch room had stopped what they were doing. I tried not to pay attention as Ben and I got in the lunch line.

As I walked into the open caf, I instinctively glanced to the table Edward and I had been sitting at for a while and it was empty. My eyes drifted around the room and settled on Edward's crazy bronze hair, sitting next to a beautiful blond. He was sitting with his family.

Edward raised a finger at me and inclined it towards himself saying that I should sit with them. I forced myself not to be nervous, even though it was severely uncommon and highly dangerous for me to sit there. I moved to the table and sat in the open seat beside Edward.

"Hi, Bella!" Alice said as she skidded to a halt and sat across from me, next to Jasper.

"Hi, Alice," I said nervously, Edward put a hand on my lower back, trying to calm me. And all of a sudden I felt a rush of serenity come over me and settle on my mind, but I knew it wasn't me that had calmed myself. It was someone sitting at the table with us. I looked up at Edward with a questioning look on my face.

"You can do that on her, Jasper?" Edward asked incredulously.

"Apparently so." Jasper replied with a smug look on his face.

"What? What are you doing" I was getting a little apprehensive and my heart rate started to pick up again, but a new wave of peacefulness came over me and I sighed. "This?" I finally put two and two together. "You're doing this to me? Changing my emotions."

"Well not exactly change them," Jasper said with a thick Southern drawl. "It's more like I can convince you to change your own mood. If you really wanted to be scared to you would be, you could fight my power."

"Power? You mean, like how Edward is a mind reader." Jasper nodded. "But you said it was rare." I said to Edward.

"It is, we're just an unusual family." he said lightly.

I looked at the rest of his siblings, Rosalie obviously had beauty on her side (not to mention being totally pretentious), Emmet had his humor and his bulk, Alice had. What did Alice have? She was short, but I would hardly call that a talent.

"What are you, Alice? A mystic?" I joked.

"Well, not exactly." I didn't normally like those words together and now was included in that.

"What does that mean?"

"I can see the future." she said simply like it was an everyday thing to come out and tell people that.

Emmet's booming laughter halted my thoughts.

"What? Did you just now get that joke I told you yesterday?" Edward asked. They sounded so normal, it was strange.

"No- you should have- seen her- face!" he said through fits of laughter.

"Well, it's not everyday someone comes up to you and say 'Hey, I can see the future!' well not unless you're in the loony bin I guess." Everyone stopped laughing and looked at Alice.

"I was when I was human." she said in a small voice and I wanted to go crawl under a rock and die. It's like in movies when one person says 'Ew, look at that ugly top!' and their friend looks down and she's wearing it, but times a million.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I was just- It's just that - I was, uh- I'm sorry-" Emmet stopped my stammering with his booming laughter again.

"Her FACE!!" he couldn't suppress his laughter and the rest of them joined in, even Edward. At that moment I would have prayed for a freak lightening storm to come zap me right between the eyes.

They were still laughing when the bell rang. "Alright, well I'm gonna go kill myself, nice meeting you." I got up from the table and was dumping my tray when Edward came over to me.

"Hey, don't be that way."

"How was I supposed to know that? Huh? Okay, I don't think about things like that, especially after that No Child Left Behind thing."

"It's okay, she was kidding." That lifted a little of the weight off my shoulders.

Biology went by without mishaps. Edward and I talked the whole time, Mike shot daggers at Edward, and Jessica looked happy now that she was sure I wasn't scheming to take Mike from her.

Jessica talked non-stop about her and Mike on our way to the choir and art rooms. She insisted that she thought we should double and I just could barely keep from laughing at that.

I walked into the art room, not look forward to having to see Alice in there, but she wasn't. And then I realized we were doing our wood sculptures and someone might injure themselves, drawing blood, causing Alice to have the urge to kill them. Probably a good choice that she stay away for the day.

Next was the dreadful gym class and baseball was the means of torture for the day. There's not telling how many bruises I had after those few innings we had. Edward was waiting for me as I exited the gym, his scent wafting over me. I used to hate the way it made me feel, now it was simply wonderful. He put his arm around me and steered me to his Volvo.

"So how was the first day?" he asked me.

"Of what?" I said coyly. I was going to make him say it.

"Of being the elusive girlfriend of Edward Cullen."

"Oh that, it was okay, I guess. If you call being mocked by your boyfriends siblings okay."

"I told you I was sorry about that."

I laughed at him, he was actually worried that I was mad. "Today was great."

"Today is Friday right?" he asked me as he climbed into the driver's seat after closing my door.

"Yea why?" I said, searching for something to listen to.

"Well, don't humans usually go out on Fridays?"

I looked up at him, "Yea,"

"Then let's go out."

"Okay, let's go out." I smiled at him as I finally landed on a song. _Forever Young _by Bob Dylan. Perfect.

As we pulled out of the parking lot, I couldn't help but think 'Thank God It's Friday'!


	18. Adoption Notice

Hello, everyone. I'm so terribly sorry to all my readers for doing this to you, but I cannot finish this story. It is however, up for adoption. If you would like to adopt it, please private message me and I would love to talk to you about what you might plan to do with it. If I have multiple people ask about it, this process might take some time, but hopefully it won't. Also, if you do end up continuing this story, I would love to give you any of my notes about where I was going with the story or some of my backstory on the characters. Thank you for reading and reviewing this fic, it really means a lot to me to know that so many people liked it and want me to finish.

My other story is also up for adoption if you would like to check that out.

Thanks again!

Emily.


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